Bill O’Reilly may not be Donald Trump’s favorite Fox News anchor—Sean Hannity and Greta Van Susteren are probably higher on his list—but the relationship between the network’s top-rated host and favorite guest is secure. Trump appears on the O’Reilly Factor almost weekly, engaging in pointless blather with its host—they joke about their friendship, while O’Reilly lobs softball questions (before spending the rest of the show telling his other guests how tough an interview he just conducted).
On Monday night, however, Trump may have accidentally given away just how painless these interviews with O’Reilly are for him. Further proving that he says whatever the hell is on his mind without thinking much, the presumptive GOP nominee was asked a question by O’Reilly about whether a report in the Boston Globe claiming he paid male and female staff unequally was true. Here is Trump’s answer; it sure seems like Trump just admitted that O’Reilly’s staff feeds him interview questions in advance.
“I just had it checked because I heard this was going to be a question,” Trump responded to O’Reilly. “I don’t know, I just have a good source. Somebody said this could be a question.”
I reached out to Fox News to ask about this “source.” David Tabacoff, senior executive producer of the O’Reilly Factor, replied:
We never, ever tell the guests what questions will be asked. Bill O’Reilly is the only person who knows what exactly he’ll ask. We treated this interview like we treat all other guests on the program.
