Trump Slams Radio Host Hewitt for 'Gotcha' Questions

Republican front-runner Donald Trump continues to lay into various media outlets and personalities, most recently conservative Salem Radio Network show host Hugh Hewitt, who Trump will hear from again at the Sept. 16 Republican debate.

Hewitt had asked some foreign policy questions during an interview Thursday that Trump felt were "gotcha" questions. Hewitt probed Trump with questions featuring the names of  various Middle East figures and there was some confusion when he asked about General Soleimani, who runs the Quds forces—Trump said he had heard "Kurds."

Friday, in a phone interview on MSNBC's Morning Joe, Trump took the opportunity to slam Hewitt, calling him a "third-rate radio announcer" who was "working hard" to ask gotcha questions. Hewitt said during the interview that he was not trying to play "gotcha."

Earlier in the week on Twitter, Trump had criticized Fox for allegedly not reporting his growing poll numbers, and slammed Bill O'Reilly and Fox for too frequently featuring analyst Karl Rove, a man (he used a less flattering term) who had predicted Mitt Romney won the last election, Trump pointed out. It is not the first time the candidate has taken a swipe at Rove on Twitter.

"Just out - new PPP NATIONAL POLL has me in first place by a wide margin at 29%. I wonder why only @FoxNews has not reported this? Too bad!," Trump tweeted earlier this week.

Trump has not been shy about criticizing the media, including the questions he is asked, most notably Megyn Kelly's tough questioning at the first Republican debate.

The Sept. 16 debate will air on CNN and Salem radio stations and be moderated by Dana Bash, Jake Tapper and Hewitt.

John Eggerton

Contributing editor John Eggerton has been an editor and/or writer on media regulation, legislation and policy for over four decades, including covering the FCC, FTC, Congress, the major media trade associations, and the federal courts. In addition to Multichannel News and Broadcasting + Cable, his work has appeared in Radio World, TV Technology, TV Fax, This Week in Consumer Electronics, Variety and the Encyclopedia Britannica.