Multiple news programs have caved to Donald Trump’s demands during the 2016 Republican primary, but “CBS This Morning” set itself apart this week by refusing to allow GOP front-runner to phone in for an interview.
“Unfortunately [Trump] suddenly unable to join [“CBS This Morning”] via camera — we won’t take on the phone — so we’ll wait for next time!” CBS executive producer Chris Licht said on social media.
The billionaire businessman was scheduled to appear via satellite on multiple networks Tuesday morning, including NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox News, and MSNBC. However, for several of the networks, Trump flipped the script at the last moment and said he would call in instead.
The GOP front-runner claimed there was a technical error on his end, but sources at a few of the scheduled networks said he backed out of appearing on camera because “he didn’t like the shot.”
One source told CNNMoney that they heard the real estate mogul say, “I don’t like the way I look. Just tell them there’s technical issues.”
Some of the networks offered an alternative means for Trump to appear on camera, but he declined and insisted instead on conducing the interviews via telephone.
Everyone but “CBS This Morning,” which has a longstanding informal rule against conducting telephone interviews, complied with Trump’s request.
The decision by CBS to walk away from a Trump interview, and to not cave to his demands, comes as many of the biggest newsrooms in the country have either given in to his requests, or stood by impotently as he has steamrolled them on their own turf.
In March, for example, Trump reportedly disobeyed the rules of a Fox News-hosted GOP primary debate, and consulted with his campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, during a commercial break.
When network staffers asked Trump’s aide to leave the stage, Lewandowski refused, and went right on conferring with his boss. There were no repercussions for Trump’s open disregard for Fox’s debate guidelines. The Fox moderators made no mention during the debate that one of the candidates has broken the rules. Instead, Fox officials decided to allow the other candidates, Sens. Ted Cruz of Texas and Marco Rubio of Florida and Ohio Gov. John Kasich, to confer with their campaign teams.
This wasn’t the first time that Trump ignored a network’s explicitly stated debate rules with impunity, according to CNN.
Then there was the time in October 2015 when Trump demanded CNBC limit the duration of its GOP debate. The network complied.
CBS’ decision to turn down the interview Tuesday morning is all the more interesting considering its executive chairman, Leslie Moonves, has openly cheered Trump’s candidacy, saying on more than one occasion that the insurgent GOP candidate has been great for the network’s bottom line.
Trump’s penchant for calling in to interviews dates back for years, and few — if any — of the major networks have ever challenged him on the issue.
As a former fixture on Fox News’ “Fox and Friends,” Trump would often call in to participate on the early morning show.
Since launching his presidential campaign, the major cable networks, including Fox, CNN and MSNBC, have all been happy to accept Trump’s call.
NBC’s “Meet the Press,” ABC’s “This Week” and CNN’s “State of the Union” have each hosted Trump at some point for phone interviews.
The casino tycoon’s interview on CNN where he declined three times to disavow the Ku Klux Klan was done during a phone interview. He said later that he had a faulty earpiece and couldn’t understand CNN’s Jack Tapper’s questions.
Trump’s fondness for phoning it in has become so common, that CBS’ Stephen Colbert once interviewed the mogul on his late night show by phone, all the while mocking the candidate’s preferred method for being interviewed.
Though the producers of “CBS This Morning” won praise Tuesday for adhering to the shows standards, the hosts of MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” pooh-pooh’d the decision and boasted that they have no problem with Trump setting the terms of media interviews.
“Donald Trump has proved himself to be the most accessible candidate, like it or not,” co-host Mika Brzezinski said shortly after they had wrapped up a telephone interview with the presidential candidate. “But don’t blame us if the other candidates are not as accessible.”
“Any candidate that wants to pick up the phone and call us, we’d love to have you on,” host Joe Scarborough added.
Scarborough, a vocal and avid supporter of Trump, has hosted the GOP front-runner during the 2016 primary for multiple telephone interviews.
