Hugh Hewitt on Trump: I try not to ‘injure’ guests
Conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt says he did not intentionally humiliate GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump during a tense interview on his show this week.
The broadcaster said his foreign policy queries were valid questions for someone seeking the Oval Office.
“I’ve been doing interviews for a long time,” Hewitt wrote in an op-ed published by Politico on Saturday. “[I’ve done] more than 20,000 in a 25-year television and radio career.”
{mosads}“I don’t set out to injure a candidate or embarrass them but to elicit from them key information on the most important issues of the day, which involves their specific race,” he said.
“I aim to illuminate,” Hewitt added. “I do not, however, intend to prosecute any of them on behalf of a pet issue, or set traps or chortle at answers or respond to attacks.”
Hewitt’s article follows a testy exchange with Trump during a Thursday interview.
Trump called Hewitt’s interrogations on foreign policy “somewhat ridiculous” after mistaking a query about Iran’s Quds Force for one about the Kurds.
Hewitt responded Saturday that his interview style provides everyday Americans with essential insight into how their presidential candidates think and behave.
“My job is to ask questions that GOP voters from across the spectrum want answered, and those include electability issues, including whether candidates are sufficiently combative enough to survive the mainstream media gauntlet ahead and the Clinton money and message machine,” he said, referencing Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton.
“I don’t have any favorites in the race for the GOP nomination or nurse any hope that any particular candidate stumbles,” Hewitt said.
“I think we who work from the comfort of studios owe it to the public generally, and specifically to the men and women deploy at the tips of various spears around the world, ask would-be presidents how they will conduct themselves as commander-in-chief,” he added.
Trump has repeatedly argued that Hewitt is “third-rate” for asking him “gotcha” questions following their encounter earlier this week.
GOP presidential contenders Carly Fiorina and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio have said Hewitt’s questioning is fair, given the responsibilities that come with the presidency.
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