Fox News’ Bret Baier on interviewing Trump and why it was ‘tough’ wearing an Eagles jersey

On Sunday, President Donald Trump will become the first sitting president to attend a Super Bowl, where he’ll be a guest of New Orleans Saints owner Gayle Benson at the Superdome.

Prior to the game, Trump will sit down with veteran Fox News anchor Bret Baier for a pre-Super Bowl interview, part of a tradition that dates back to 2004, when former President George W. Bush sat down with CBS announcer Jim Nantz ahead of Super Bowl XXXVIII in Houston.

Though the tradition of the interview itself has been spotty of late.

President Joe Biden opted to skip an interview with Baier and Fox in 2023 ahead of the Eagles’ first Super Bowl against the Kansas City Chiefs in Arizona. He also turned down an interview on CBS ahead of last year’s Super Bowl in Las Vegas. Trump also bucked the trend by declining to be interviewed by NBC ahead of Super Bowl LII in 2018, a game Eagles fans remember fondly.

Despite that, Baier said it wasn’t too difficult to get the president to agree to talk this time around.

“We had been talking with them about an interview after the inauguration, and he definitely was open,” Baier said. “As you’ve seen, he’s not afraid to take questions. He’s taken more questions, arguably, in the first few weeks of his administration than his previous president in many, many months.”

Baier was heading down to Florida on Saturday to tape the interview with Trump at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Palm Beach. A portion will be shown during the 3 p.m. hour Sunday during Fox’s massive pregame show, while the rest of the interview will appear Monday at 6 p.m. during Baier’s Fox News show, Special Report.

Ahead of sitting down for the interview, Baier discussed the challenges of interviewing Trump, what it’s like being on the receiving end of an attack from the president, and why it was a “tough day” filming a Super Bowl commercial with Sean Hannity while wearing an Eagles jersey. This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

We had been talking with them about an interview after the inauguration, and he definitely was open. As you’ve seen, he’s not afraid to take questions. He’s taken more questions, arguably, in the first few weeks of his administration than his previous president in many, many months.

So I think he was amicable to an interview. And then, obviously, Fox had the Super Bowl, so it all gelled together. Sean Hannity had the first interview after inauguration, and this interview, you know, came together. So there’s both a piece that will air on the pregame show, and then a large portion of the rest of the interview is going to run on Special Report on Monday, so there’s a lot of time to be able to give him to talk about things he wants to talk about.

They’ve given us 30 minutes, but I’ve been given 30 minutes before and it ends up being 45 minutes. The actual interview that airs on the pregame show is about eight minutes, roughly.

It’s a difficult thing. It’s a mix between an iconic American moment and talking about sports to substance, and there are big things happening every day, it’s like drinking from a fire hose. … So I think in the Special Report part of the interview there will be a little more in-the-weeds discussion of issues, but we’ll also touch on big-ticket items in the pregame show.

Yeah, it’s a different style and you have to be ready for it. But the best part about President Trump is that he’s trying to get to an answer to the question you ask. Sometimes the weave happens — that’s how he talks, not just at rallies but answers to questions.

Many politicians try to not answer questions. He’s really been kind of straightforward about eventually answering the question that you asked, whether it’s what his supporters or detractors what to hear. He doesn’t really care. So the challenge is to be respectful, but also redirect, so answers don’t get into the talking points we’ve heard before.

I think it’s just feeling it out. A lot of times is something happens right beforehand that becomes news of the day or news of the moment. Obviously, I think big issues around the world are big issues still, and if you bounce around the world there are things he’s weighed in on that a lot of people know where he stands. And Elon Musk and DOGE are causing quite a stir in Washington — Republicans are cheering it, Democrats are trying to fight it. So that’s 100% going to be someplace.

It just kind of rolls off my back. I’ve been on the back end of some posts. It’s a tough day on X, it gets a little dark with some of the comments. The funny part about that is Bob will say, “You are such a liberal, you’re such a never-Trumper!” And Sally will say, “You are so in the tank for Trump, it’s unbelievable!” And I feel like saying, “Bob, meet Sally. Sally, meet Bob. I’m just going to do the news.”

I think in this moment is he’s feeling comfortable in his skin. He’s been there before, he knows what he wants to do, he has people that were prepared for this moment — just the flurry of executive orders and all the things that they’re doing. I’m sure his answer to some of the tough things is, “I won. This is what the American people wanted.” It will also be a different tone, in that it’s a Super Bowl interview.

I’ve been doing it for 27 years at Fox, and everybody is a friend of mine. I have this Super Bowl ad with Sean Hannity, and we had a blast doing it. And it is indicative of news and opinion — we do different things in different ways, but we’re under one umbrella. And the company’s doing great. I think viewers have come to trust things we do.

So I don’t think about it as separating anymore. When I took over for Brit Hume, I looked at it like, “If you build it, they will come.” I think the news product speaks for itself and the opinion product speaks for itself. And, fortunately, both of those are clicking on full cylinders.

That was a little tough for me, man. I’m a Commanders fan. So my buddies were like, “What are you doing?” But Sean chose Kansas City. I took the Philly jersey, but I think it was a lot of fun. We had a good time shooting it.

It was the day after. It was a tough day.