A Fox Business anchor called out Donald Trump’s White House on Tuesday for ignoring interview requests to talk about the spiraling U.S. economy.
Dagen McDowell raged to panelists on the Big Money Show that it was “shameful” how communications staff at the White House and Treasury Department stopped returning her texts.
“Some of the people in communications at the White House, in the Treasury, will not respond to the show—trying to just book anybody to talk about this economy,” she said, clearly exasperated.
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McDowell, 56, said she did not plan to trash the White House on air, but she reneged after her co-panelists complained that the Trump administration’s messaging about big losses in the U.S. stock market was falling short.
“They won’t even answer the show,” she said of the White House and Treasury Department, “but Scott Bessent goes on one of the lowest-rated shows on another network. I mean, you could open the window and shout out the window in the middle of New York City...”
McDowell was cut off before finishing, but she appeared to be making a ratings dig at a rival show, CNBC’s Squawk Box, which interviewed Bessent on Friday.
She wasn’t done hounding the White House and Treasury Department just yet.
“If they want to communicate with the American people then,” she said before being cut off again. “I’m calling them out. You know what, the people who work for these treasury secretaries need to answer a text message. It’s shameful.”
The segment’s serial interrupter was Charlie Gasparino. The Fox commentator defended Trump’s tariff plan and claimed the tanking stock market—the Dow has dropped 900 points since Monday—was because stock struggles were “baked in” under Joe Biden and were part of an “overcorrect” to tariff announcements that will eventually fix itself.
Gasparino warned that correction may not be immediate, however.
“It’s going to get a little rough in the next three months—we may even hit a recession,” he conceded.
Gasparino had his own criticisms of the White House on Tuesday’s show, namely that it was not coming out and making the same argument he had just done on air.
“The Trump administration is doing a lousy job messaging all this,” he said. “Why does it take us sitting here talking about the goodies and tax cuts?”
His criticisms also carried over to Bessent, too. He said Trump’s treasury secretary had him falling asleep at a recent speech to the Economic Club of New York. He said he needs to do a better job at getting the benefits to Trump’s economic plan across.
“I was there,” Gasparino said of Bessent’s remarks. “It was so wonky. My eyes were like, closing, and, you know, he’s a really smart guy. We’re lucky to have him, but he saved the goodies for the end. And that’s when Larry Kudlow asked him about taxes and stuff like that. And you know, you gotta, you gotta lead with your best shot.”
