Trump says he'll join 'Fox & Friends' once a week. Fox says not so fast.

Donald Trump on Tuesday morning claimed he is now going to call in to his favorite Fox News morning show once a week — a commitment the hosts of “Fox & Friends” did not appear to be aware of before Trump announced it.

“Good to be here. Great to be with my friends. I think we’re going to do this, we’ve agreed to do this once a week in the morning and I look forward to it, like the old days,” Trump said during the 47-minute-long appearance on “Fox & Friends,” Fox News’ morning program that typically runs decidedly pro-Trump and pro-Republican segments.

After Trump made that remark, the “Fox & Friends” hosts seemed surprised, and later in the program cast doubt that Trump would be making a weekly appearance on the show.

“You may want to do it every week, but Fox is not committed to that,” host Steve Doocey said. “We’re going to take it on a case-by-case basis. And Joe Biden as well is always welcome to join us for 47 minutes like the president just did.”

Trump has been fighting the release of his personal financial documents to a grand jury investigation in New York, as well as to a House investigation into whether Trump inflated his net worth to secure loans by claiming that he is too “busy” to take the time to hand them over.

In a Supreme Court hearing about whether Trump had to turn over the documents, Trump lawyer Jay Sekulow argued:

Let’s assume that the president were to hire me, that I’m going to call the President of the United States, today, and say, ‘I know you’re handling a pandemic right now for the United States, but I need to spend a couple of — two to three hours with you — going over a subpoena of documents that are wanted by, here, the New York County District Attorney. I know you’re busy, but can you carve me out two hours?’

However, in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, Trump has already admitted to watching seven hours of Fox News programming in a single 24-hour period.

And now he says he has time to call in to “Fox & Friends” for nearly an hour a week — cutting into the argument that he’s just too busy.

Trump making regular appearances on “Fox & Friends” harkens back to his days before taking office, when he’d call into the program to push the racist “birther” conspiracy against former President Barack Obama, as well as stoke fear about Ebola, among other things.

Ultimately, it’s not clear that spending a chunk of his day calling in to “Fox & Friends” will be helpful for his reelection bid.

The program’s viewership is likely already pro-Trump. A poll from last May found that 73% of Fox News viewers approved of Trump.

And with Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden ahead in the polls — and even garnering a majority of voters in a handful of national and swing–state surveys — Trump needs to expand his base and even take away voters who have already side they are voting Biden.

Published with permission of The American Independent Foundation.