Maria Bartiromo criticized for toothless interview with Trump
Fox Business anchor Maria Bartiromo conducted an interview with President Donald Trump on Sunday — and it's not going down well with fellow journalists, many of whom criticized her lack of pushback on the president's responses.
Michael Barbaro of The New York Times tweeted that the former CNBC host is now something other than a journalist after CNN's "Reliable Sources" anchor Brian Stelter suggested she sounded like a "counselor."
Bartiromo, once known as the "Money Honey" for her hard-edged coverage of business and finance, hosted the interview with the president on Fox News Channel's "Sunday Morning Futures."
But Bartiromo has been seen as one of many hosts at Fox News that have cozied up to the president. The recent interview provided more ammo for her critics, with Bartiromo agreeing with a variety of Trump's points.
On the subject of trade wars, Trump talked about how the US is getting ripped off. Bartiromo observed encouragingly: "And the markets feel like they're trusting you at this point."
Trump responded: "I think they trust me, and the farmers trust me." Bartiromo's response: "They do."
Bartiromo did have follow up questions on the topic of tariffs, pushing Trump with industry claims that the taxes will hit consumers and result in a net loss of American jobs.
Fox Business President Brian Jones stood by Bartiromo's interview.
“Maria Bartiromo’s wide-ranging interview with President Trump made news on multiple fronts and elicited answers to numerous questions," Jones said in an emailed statement. "We are proud of her hard work and continued success across each of her FBN and FNC programs.”
The transcript of the wide ranging interview, which touched on topics such as the next Supreme Court Justice pick and the Russia investigation, is here.
But it's worth noting that judging by the comments on the YouTube video posted here, Bartiromo still has plenty of fans.