Donald Trump and Bill O’Reilly pictured together at a Yankees baseball game. (Getty)
President Donald Trump sat down with Fox News anchor Bill O’Reilly for an interview during the pregame coverage of Super Bowl LI at 4 p.m. on Fox.
The first portion of the three-part taped interview aired on Fox, the network that is broadcasting this year’s game between the Atlanta Falcons and New England Patriots.
The second and third parts of the interview will be airing Monday and Tuesday night on O’Reilly’s Fox News show, “The O’Reilly Factor,” which airs at 8 p.m. Eastern. on the Fox News Channel.
The O’Reilly-Trump interview continues a tradition started by President Barack Obama, who sat down for six years of one-on-ones on Super Bowl Sunday, according to CNN’s Brian Stelter. Obama was twice interviewed by O’Reilly when Fox was the Super Bowl network. President George W. Bush also sat down for interviews twice on Super Bowls.
Fox News previewed the Trump interview on Saturday, releasing a portion showing Trump’s comments about Russian President Vladimir Putin. O’Reilly asked Trump whether he respects Putin.
“I do respect him, but I respect a lot of people,” Trump responded. “That doesn’t mean I’m going to get along with him.”
The American president said he would welcome any help from Russia in fighting ISIS, and said he would rather get along with Putin than be an enemy.
“But he’s a killer, though,” O’Reilly said to Trump. “Putin’s a killer.”
“There are a lot of killers. We’ve got a lot of killers,” Trump responded. “What do you think — our country’s so innocent?”
When Trump is asked why he respects Putin even though he’s a killer: “What do you think- our country’s so innocent?”
O’Reilly also talked about immigration, and whether Trump should make public claims about topics like that without citing facts to back them up. He cited Trump’s unverified claim that 3 million undocumented immigrants illegally voted in the presidential election, all for Hillary Clinton.
“When you see… people who are not citizens and they are the registration rolls… it’s a really bad situation,” Trump said, according to Fox News.
Trump also talked a little football during the interview, picking the New England Patriots, and his friend, quarterback Tom Brady, to win the game by 8 points.
You can read more about Trump’s comments about Putin and the reaction to them at the link below:
You can watch the full interview here:
