Donald Trump Interrupted by Fox News Host After He Brags About His Hiring Record: 'You Had Plenty of Personnel Mistakes'
Feb. 5 2024, Published 12:27 p.m. ET
It's safe to say Fox News anchor Maria Bartiromo did not go easy on Donald Trump when the two sat down for an interview, which aired on Sunday, February 4.
While chatting, Bartiromo called out the former president, 77, for his bad record when it comes to hiring people in his administration.
“You’re relying on other people to give you names to be the head of this, head of that,” Trump said. “And by the way, we had unbelievable people.”
The journalist then stopped him immediately. “Yeah, but your critics say you had plenty of personnel mistakes,” Bartiromo said.
Trump then attempted to downplay how bad things were behind-the-scenes.
“Of course,” Trump said. “But everybody does. [Barack] Obama had… What about [Joe] Biden? Look at the people running this Biden thing.”
The Fox News star then asked Trump if people tried to sabotage his administration from the inside.
“How do you know if you get back in, you don’t have a network of people around you working against you?” Bartiromo asked.
“I will,” Trump said. “And so will anybody else that gets in as a Republican. These people are sick. These are sick people.”
As OK! previously reported, this is hardly the first time Trump's former coworkers were brought up.
While speaking to Bret Baier in June 2023, Trump boasted about his time in the White House.
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“We put people in that were great and we put people in that weren’t. I now know Washington probably better than anybody. I know the good ones and the bad ones and we will have really great, strong people," the businessman said at the time.
Baier responded, “Ok. In 2016 you said that,” before he read through a long list of his former employees who have gone on to speak out against him.
"This time, your Vice President Mike Pence is running against you. Your ambassador of the United Nations Nikki Haley, she’s running against you. Your former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said he’s not supporting you. You mentioned national security adviser John Bolton, he’s not supporting you either. You mentioned Attorney General Bill Barr, says you shouldn’t be president again, calls you a 'consummate narcissist' and 'troubled man,'" Bair noted.
"You recently called Barr a 'gutless pig.' Your second Defense Secretary is not supporting you, called you 'irresponsible.' This week, you… called your White House Chief of Staff John Kelly 'weak and ineffective' and 'born with a very small brain.' You called your acting White House Chief of Staff Mick Mulvaney a 'born loser,'" he continued of Trump's attacks. "You called your first Secretary of State Rex Tillerson 'dumb as a rock' and your first Defense Secretary James Mattis 'the world’s most overrated general.' You called your White House press secretary Kayleigh McEnany 'milktoast,' and multiple times you’ve referred to your Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao as Mitch McConnell’s 'China-loving wife.' So why did you hire all of them in the first place?"
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In typical Trump fashion, he deflected and defended his choices.
“Because I hired 10-1 that were fantastic," he insisted. “For every one you say, I had ten that love us.”