KEY POINTS

  • Donald Trump took to Fox News first thing on Election Day, attacking both his opponents and Fox itself during his interview
  • He was asked about reports alleging he would try to claim victory before all votes were counted, but said only that he would declare himself the winner "when there is victory"
  • He said that Fox had "changed a lot," citing their coverage of Joe Biden

Trump opted to give his first Election Day interview to "Fox And Friends," usually a safe bet for sympathetic coverage. Despite the friendly audience, he included Fox News among his targets during the extended attack session Tuesday.

Trump was asked about reports that he would attempt to declare victory on Election Night, before all votes were counted, Buzzfeed reported. Despite frequent past assertions that only votes counted on Nov. 3 were valid, Trump refused to commit one way or the other on-air, saying that he would claim victory “when there was victory.”

"If there is victory, I think we will have victory,” Trump said. “I think the polls are, you know, suppression polls. And I think we will have victory. But only when there is victory. You know, there is no reason to play games. And I think we will have victory."

Trump worked his way through a familiar litany of targets, moving from Joe Biden to Kamala Harris, who he said would make a “terrible” first female president if Biden were to step down.

Less common were his criticisms on Fox News, which he attacked for putting Biden on “more than anybody else” during the campaign.

“Fox has changed a lot,” he said. “Somebody said, ‘What’s the biggest difference between this and four years ago?’ It’s much different. You still have great people, but Fox is a much different place in terms of politics.”

The anchors gently rebuffed him, saying that they were the first to interview him after his 2016 win, and just wanted to show both sides, “unlike the other networks.”

It’s not the first time there’s been trouble in paradise for the two, with the president occasionally shifting his favor to the even more conservative One America News.

The spats rarely last long, as shown by his continued presence on Fox’s shows. As of mid-September, Trump had been interviewed by Fox News more than 100 times, the Associated Press reported.