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Trump Spills on 'Squawk’

Appearing on CNBC, Donald Trump pulled back the curtain on how his "Squawk Box" interview came together—revealing more than the network likely wanted and raising questions about its booking process.

Oliver Darcy
Oliver Darcy

Apr 22, 2026

Trump Spills on 'Squawk’

Trump Spills on 'Squawk’

Appearing on CNBC, Donald Trump pulled back the curtain on how his "Squawk Box" interview came together—revealing more than the network likely wanted and raising questions about its booking process.

Oliver Darcy
Oliver Darcy

Apr 22, 2026

Trump Spills on 'Squawk’

On Tuesday morning, Donald Trump dialed into “Squawk Box,” the CNBC program that business leaders and Wall Street bankers reliably wake up to each morning. “President Trump, welcome,” pro-MAGA co-host Joe Kernen said, welcoming the attention-hungry president to the show after finalizing plans for the interview over the weekend. “Thanks for joining us this morning.”

During the 37-minute call, Trump delivered a number of his usual lies and insults. He ranted about “murderers” illegally crossing the border into the country. He blasted the Supreme Court over its tariff ruling, declaring that the justices “didn’t want to save our country.” He assailed so-called “fake news.” And he, among many other claims, claimed he would “have won Vietnam very quickly” and insisted the negotiations with Iran to end the war he started are nothing to worry about.

Throughout it all, Trump received little-to-no pushback, effectively being handed a live microphone to riff at length as the CNBC hosts stood idly by. They allowed him to deliver most of his claims uninterrupted, at times bizarrely opting not to interject as the president jumped from one topic to the next with little coherence. If such an interview took place on a network like CNN, its hosts would unquestionably be roasted for letting the president steamroll them.

In any case, perhaps the most interesting moment came some 10 minutes into the interview, when Trump revealed how he was coaxed into agreeing to the appearance in the first place. Trump said that…

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Oliver Darcy

Jon Passantino

Natalie Korach

Brian Lowry

Status is the definitive nightly briefing that cuts through the noise to inform readers about what is really happening in the corridors of media power.

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