Donald Trump’s Super Bowl interview with Bill O’Reilly preview: Putin, Russia, voter fraud and more

Presidential interviews have been a regular part of the Super Bowl pregame buffet for some time now, going back to President George W. Bush.

That tradition will continue on Sunday when President Donald Trump will sit down with Fox’s Bill O’Reilly at 4 p.m. ET for a session that’s already stirring up controversy thanks to clips of Trump’s remarks about Russian President Vladimir Putin that made the rounds late Saturday.

Russia and Putin

“But he’s a killer, though. Putin’s a killer,” O’Reilly told Trump.

“There are a lot of killers. We’ve got a lot of killers. What do you think — our country’s so innocent?” Trump responded.

America’s relationship with Russia, more specifically, Trump’s relationship with Putin, has been a constant theme throughout the election. U.S. intelligence agencies reported that Russian hackers meddled in the election with the specific goal of helping Trump get elected over Hillary Clinton.

The Trump administration denied those reports, but intelligence officials have stood by their findings.

This isn’t the first time Trump’s made glowing remarks about his Russian counterpart. In December 2015, he praised Putin during an appearance on MSNBC, telling the hosts: “He’s running his country and at least he’s a leader, unlike what we have in this country.”

President Obama sanctioned Russia in the wake of the election hacking revelations last year, but when Putin said that Russia would withhold any kind of retaliation, Trump praised him. He tweeted: “Great move on delay (by V. Putin) - I always knew he was very smart!”

Trump’s latest remarks have already come under fire, which is to be expected when the president compares the USA to a brutal autocrat.

“This is the second time Trump has defended Putin against the charge that he’s a killer by saying in effect that the U.S. is no better or different,” U.S. Rep. Adam Schiff of California told CNN. “This is as inexplicably bizarre as it is untrue. Does he not see the damage he does with comments like that and the gift he gives to Russian propaganda?”

The president’s actions may have helped embolden a Russia that’s been trying to bolster its presence on the world stage. Recently Russians and Russian-backed forces have stepped up attacks in Ukraine, attacks that began a day after Trump’s first phone call with Putin since taking office. Republican Senator John McCain warned the White House that it was an early test by Putin to see how far they could push things without an effective response from the administration.

Besides Russia, other things likely to come up during the interview include:

Voter fraud

Trump’s been making the baseless claim since taking office that more than three million illegal votes were cast in the election. Comments about that were also shared ahead of O’Reilly’s interview.

When asked about his claim and Trump’s request for an investigation, which he’s since backed away from, the president said: “Well, many people have come out and said I am right; you know that.”

Travel ban

On Friday, Jan. 27, Trump signed an executive order that denied people from seven majority-Muslim countries from traveling to the U.S. The controversial move spurred protests around the country, as refugees seeking asylum, visa holders, and others were left in limbo.

A federal judge blocked the travel ban order last week and prompted the Department of Homeland Security to suspend enforcement of the order. That sparked an unprecedented response from the president in which he attacked the integrity of the judge directly.

“The opinion of this so-called judge, which essentially takes law enforcement away from our country, is ridiculous and will be overturned!” Trump tweeted on Saturday.

The travel ban has been hanging over the Super Bowl all week. Jaguars owner Shad Khan, a Muslim immigrant from Pakistan, came out against the travel ban this week. Falcons owner Arthur Blank, whose team is vying for the championship on Sunday, spoke out against Trump’s actions earlier.

Those are only a few things likely to come up during the interview. Trump’s continuing role in his businesses and the potential for conflict of interest has been in the news again lately. Another hot button issue is the Republican-controlled Congress’ desire to dismantle the Affordable Care Act with no plan to replace the law and the access to health care it’s provided millions of previously uninsured Americans.

This will be O’Reilly’s third Super Bowl pregame interview with a sitting president.