Fox & Friends knows President Trump's got some explaining to do.
After Trump caught heat for telling ABC News that he'd be open to receiving dirt on an opponent from a foreign government, the subject inevitably came up when he called in to Fox & Friends on Friday. The hosts invited Trump to "clarify" his comments on Thursday, but his birthday-morning call didn't do much to settle the dust.
While Trump told ABC News' George Stephanopoulos that he would "maybe" report information from a foreign government to the FBI, he told Fox "of course" he'd present "anything bad" to the agency.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
"I don't think anyone would present me with anything bad because they know how much I love this country," he began. But if he were hypothetically offered dirt by someone who momentarily forgot about his patriotism, he would definitely check it out. "Of course you have to look at it because, if you don't look at it, you're not going to know if it's bad," he explained, suggesting a foreign government could be reaching out to let him know how great his opponent is. "But of course you give it to the FBI or report it to the attorney general or somebody like that."
While Trump previously conflated opposition research and interference from a foreign government, on Friday he only mentioned undefined "bad" information, leaving it up to interpretation exactly what would be worth reporting. He wouldn't want "bad" things affecting an election, Trump concluded — "I thought that was made clear." Summer Meza
-
Political cartoons for November 23Cartoons Sunday’s political cartoons include a Thanksgiving horn of plenty, the naughty list, and more
-
How will climate change affect the UK?The Explainer Met Office projections show the UK getting substantially warmer and wetter – with more extreme weather events
-
Crossword: November 23, 2025The daily crossword from The Week
-
Judge halts Trump’s DC Guard deploymentSpeed Read The Trump administration has ‘infringed upon the District’s right to govern itself,’ the judge ruled
-
Trump accuses Democrats of sedition meriting ‘death’Speed Read The president called for Democratic lawmakers to be arrested for urging the military to refuse illegal orders
-
Court strikes down Texas GOP gerrymanderSpeed Read The Texas congressional map ordered by Trump is likely an illegal racial gerrymander, the court ruled
-
Trump defends Saudi prince, shrugs off Khashoggi murderSpeed Read The president rebuked an ABC News reporter for asking Mohammed bin Salman about the death of a Washington Post journalist at the Saudi Consulate in 2018
-
Congress passes bill to force release of Epstein filesSpeed Read The Justice Department will release all files from its Jeffrey Epstein sex-trafficking investigation
-
Trump says he will sell F-35 jets to Saudi ArabiaSpeed Read The president plans to make several deals with Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman this week
-
Judge blasts ‘profound’ errors in Comey caseSpeed Read ‘Government misconduct’ may necessitate dismissing the charges against the former FBI director altogether
-
Ecuador rejects push to allow US military basesSpeed Read Voters rejected a repeal of a constitutional ban on US and other foreign military bases in the country
