Trump to appear on Fox News for New Year’s Eve special

Fox News announced Monday its plans to present an exclusive interview with President Trump during the network’s New Year’s Eve special, with “Fox & Friends Weekend” host Pete Hegseth conducting the discussion.

“President Trump will discuss the government shutdown, his New Year’s resolutions and what he hopes to accomplish in 2019,” the network said in its announcement.

Trump has appeared on Fox News’s New Year’s Eve special before, including in 2016 as president-elect with his family in an interview from his Mar-a-Lago property in Florida.

Hegseth has interviewed the president before, including most recently on Sept. 7.

There was speculation before Trump took office that Hegseth was a top contender to lead the Department of Veterans Affairs. The job eventually went to Robert Wilkie, a former under secretary of Defense for personnel and readiness.

Prior to television, Hegseth served in the U.S. Army National Guard. He was deployed three times overseas in Iraq and Afghanistan and was stationed at Guantanamo Bay, earning two Bronze Stars.

Fox News and CNN will offer New Year’s Eve specials out of New York’s Times Square with reporters and personalities spread throughout the country.

Anderson Cooper and talk show host Andy Cohen will again host CNN’s New Year’s Eve coverage for a second straight year, while Hegseth and Lisa Montgomery Kennedy with co-host for the first time together.

With the Hegseth interview, Trump has been interviewed by Fox News or Fox Business more than three dozen times since taking office, while not granting any interviews to cable news rivals CNN or MSNBC as president.