President Donald Trump threw one of his top media suck-ups under the bus in a live interview on CNBC.
Trump revealed that Squawk Box co-host Joe Kernen, who shamelessly posted an old photo of them golfing together on the president’s 79th birthday, had promised him that a co-anchor who is often critical of the president would not be a part of the Tuesday morning segment.
“I know my people said 20 minutes, but you can have some extra time,” Trump told the Squawk Box panel. “Even put Andrew on the phone. You know, you told me Andrew would not be there, and I said I don’t care.”
Trump was referring to Andrew Ross Sorkin, a financial journalist and author who has slammed Trump’s tariffs and, more recently, laid bare the financial windfalls of war with Iran, saying it may spike oil prices “threefold.”
Kernen, 70, pushed back on Trump’s claim, saying the promise was for if Trump had come on Squawk Box last week, which the president turned down. That was apparently when Sorkin, 49, was not on the air.
Trump still pushed on.
“You can even put Andrew on,” he told the panel. “Joe made a comment to me when he tried to get me on, he said, ‘I promise I’ll have Andrew Ross Sorkin—he will not be there.’”
A smiling Sorkin responded, “Thank you, Mr. President. I’ll chime in in a minute.”
Trump added, “I don’t mind if he’s there. I like him, I respect him, he’s just wrong on a lot of issues.”
Sorkin ultimately got to ask the president a question about tariff refunds ordered by the Supreme Court, noting that rumors suggest some companies, including Apple, are hesitant to request refunds so as not to offend the Oval Office.
Trump had no issue with Sorkin’s question and went as far as saying he was “very honored by what you just said.”
Kernen’s relationship with Trump goes back decades. He has worked for CNBC since 1991 and was a recurring guest on Trump’s TV show, The Apprentice, in the early 2000s. Trump called into his show as recently as last month to brag about his so-called “Operation Epic Fury” that has spiked gas prices and led to the deaths of 13 American troops.
On Election Day in 2024, Kernen claimed that Democratic Party chiefs were “harvesting votes” in 2000 to claim victory for Al Gore, likening it to Trump contesting the 2020 election result.
“They were harvesting votes,” Kernen claimed about 2020, something there is no proof of. “They were harvesting votes in two Democratic counties.”
Sorkin and Kernen have butted heads on Squawk Box for years. At the peak of the coronavirus pandemic, Sorkin melted down and slammed Kernen for downplaying the virus’ severity and for trying to help his “friend, the president, every single morning.”
“One hundred thousand people died, Joe, and all you did was try to help your friend, the president, every single morning on this show,” Sorkin said on May 27, 2020, during the final year of Trump’s first term. “You abused your position.”
