Trump camp was fed questions for Fox News town hall minutes before interview? Here's what has been revealed

US President-elect Donald Trump's team was given the questions asked by Fox News anchors at an Iowa town hall last January in advance by someone inside the network, according to a forthcoming book. This is widely being seen as serious breach of journalism ethics.

The breach of journalistic principles is detailed in "Revenge: The Inside Story of Trump's Return to Power" by Politico's national political reporter Alex Isenstadt. Isenstadt conducted more than 300 interviews for the book and is based on internal memos, notes and recordings as well as regular reporting trips to Palm Beach and a flight with Trump aboard his plane in June 2023, reports CNN.

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Trump camp was fed with questions?

Isenstadt reports that in January 2024, then-candidate Trump was set to hold a town hall with Iowa voters moderated by Fox News anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, though not all of Trump’s advisers wanted him to attend.

They were “still peeved at Fox, whose coverage they continued to find antagonistic, and did not want the former president to do the prime time event,” according to exerpts shared by CNN. “But Trump had a good relationship with Baier—they were golf buddies—and wanted to do a sit-down,” Isentadt added.

According to the book, whilst Trump's preparation was minimal, his team received text messages containing precise questions and follow-ups approximately thirty minutes before the broadcast. The planned questions included inquiries about business divestment, nomination risks due to indictments, political violence disavowal and potential retribution plans.

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“About thirty minutes before the town hall was due to start, a senior aide started getting text messages from a person on the inside at Fox. Holy s–t, the team thought. They were images of all the questions Trump would be asked and the planned follow-ups, down to the exact wording. Jackpot. This was like a student getting a peek at the test before the exam started,” Isenstadt writes.

Baier and MacCallum “planned to ask Trump if he would divest from his businesses if he won, and whether the party was taking a risk nominating him given his indictments.” They planned to “press Trump to “disavow political violence” and ask him if his White House “would be focused on retribution.”

“Trump was pissed,” Isenstadt writes, as he felt the questions were “like attacks designed to put him on the defensive.”

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Isenstadt told CNN that the reporting was based on “multiple people with direct knowledge” of what took place. However, having received advance notice, his team prepared responses accordingly. Fox News has said they lack evidence of this occurrence but will investigate potential network breaches. They've also contested the characterisation of Baier and Trump as regular golf partners.

The Trump camp, through Steven Cheung, responded by highlighting Trump's accessibility as a candidate without directly addressing the town hall allegations. Isenstadt maintains the account's accuracy, citing multiple sources with direct knowledge of the events.