WASHINGTON (AP) — Someone inside Fox News gave Donald Trump's presidential campaign the questions he would face ahead of a town hall the network produced in January 2024, a forthcoming book alleges, according to excerpts reported by CNN.
The claim appears in “Revenge: The Inside Story of Trump’s Return to Power” by Politico reporter Alex Isenstadt, which is set to be published in March.
Isenstadt reports that about 30 minutes before the town hall was scheduled to begin in Iowa, “a senior Trump aide started getting text messages from a person on the inside at Fox...They were images of all the questions Trump would be asked and the planned follow-ups, down to the exact wording."
“While we do not have any evidence of this occurring, and Alex Isenstadt has conveniently refused to release the images for fact checking, we take these matters very seriously and plan to investigate should there prove to be a breach within the network," a Fox News spokesperson said.
Trump's team was divided about whether he should agree to the town hall with Fox News hosts Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum and that Trump wasn't “taking prep for the telecast seriously. He'd basically be winging it.”
The list of questions showed that the anchors planned to ask Trump if he would divest from his businesses if he won and whether he would be a risky Republican nominee because of his indictments, according to the book. Trump also would be pressed to “disavow political violence” and whether his White House “would be focused on retribution.”
Trump was not happy with the questions, Isenstadt reports, but the early peek at questions gave his team a chance to talk through answers.
Giving a presidential candidate an advance look at questions would represent a breach of journalism ethics. Networks hosting events like debates and town halls generally go to great lengths to limit access to their planned questions and prevent leaks.
Trump's communications director, Steven Cheung, did not address the allegation. Said Cheung: “President Trump was the most accessible and transparent candidate in American history, and it’s a big reason why he won in historic fashion."
FILE - Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump speaks during a Fox News Channel town hall in Des Moines, Iowa, Jan. 10, 2024. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)
West Ham hired Graham Potter as the coach on Thursday, a day after Julen Lopetegui was fired.
Potter has been out of management since he was fired by Chelsea in 2023 after just seven months in the job at Stamford Bridge. He signed a two-and-a-half-year contract.
“It was important to me that I waited until a job came along that I felt was right for me, and equally that I was the right fit for the club I am joining. That is the feeling I have with West Ham United,” he said.
Potter takes over a team that has won only three of its last 11 games and is 14th in the standings, seven points above the relegation zone.
Former Real Madrid and Spain coach Lopetegui paid the price for that poor run when his departure was confirmed on Wednesday. He was hired last May to take the club to new heights after previous manager David Moyes ended West Ham's 43-year wait for a major trophy by winning the Europa Conference League in 2023.
The 49-year-old Potter said West Ham had “everything in place to become consistently successful, both on and off the pitch.”
"You don’t win a European trophy by fluke – there has to be a good bedrock at a football club for that to happen, and the challenge now is to take that on and build the next steps, to develop a team and a club that the supporters can be proud of,” he said.
Potter enjoyed an impressive rise after beginning his coaching career at Ostersunds in Sweden in 2011.
He took over at Swansea in 2018 and by 2022 was in charge of Premier League giant Chelsea after a stint at Brighton.
But his reputation took a hit at Chelsea, which was undergoing a turbulent period following the takeover by U.S. owners Todd Boehly and Clearlake Capital. He lasted just six months after a run of just seven wins from 22 league games.
West Ham said Potter was its “unanimous choice."
His first game will be on Friday at Aston Villa in the third round of the FA Cup.
James Robson is at https://twitter.com/jamesalanrobson
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
West Ham's manager Julen Lopetegui looks on before the start of the English Premier League soccer match between West Ham United and Liverpool at the London Stadium in London, Sunday, Dec. 29, 2024. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
FILE - Chelsea's head coach Graham Potter celebrates at the end of the English Premier League soccer match between Leicester City and Chelsea at King Power stadium in Leicester, England, Saturday, March 11, 2023.(AP Photo/Rui Vieira, File)
