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3. Enter 10/22/2025
"President Bush never did one interview with the New York Times during his entire presidency."
"Would it surprise you to learn that President Bush never did one interview with the New York Times during his entire presidency? Not one in eight years?" she asked.
That sounded suspicious to us, given that the New York Times is one of the largest newspapers in the country.
Sure enough, we were able to find at least three interviews that Bush gave the New York Times . (We'll update this item if we find more.)
• On June 5, 2001, New York Times reporter Frank Bruni had what he described as Bush's first "one-on-one interview" since Sen. Jim Jeffords of Vermont switched parties and threw control of the Senate to the Democrats. "We're looking at a different landscape, but still on the same continent," Bush said. "The same votes. The members haven't changed."
• On Aug 26, 2004, Bush gave a half-hour interview to the New York Times as he campaigned through New Mexico. Bush told the newspaper that he did not believe Sen. John Kerry lied about his war record, as some groups alleged during the campaign.
• On Jan. 27, 2005, a week after he started his second term, Bush spoke with New York Times reporters for 40 minutes, discussing troop levels in Iraq and domestic issues such as gay adoption, abortion and Social Security.
We couldn't find any interviews after that date, though we did find comments complaining about a lack of access from New York Times reporter Sheryl Gay Stolberg on the newspaper's Web site on Nov. 9, 2008. A reader asked Stolberg if the White House played favorites when it came to press access. Stolberg wrote that the New York Times had had a standing request to interview Bush, "since well before I came on this beat in May 2006. So far, no interview — and the reason why is hardly a secret. White House officials are quite open about the fact that we have not gotten an interview because they don't like our coverage. I get e-mails to that effect from them all the time. But the request still stands, and we are hoping for an interview before Mr. Bush leaves office."
That might sound on first blush like the New York Times never got an interview ever , but the newspaper did have interviews prior to 2006.
The Rachel Maddow Show told us they were going off a Los Angeles Times blog post that was based on Stolberg's comments. The blog post was incorrectly headlined, "Nine years later the N.Y. Times still awaits its Bush interview."
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2009/oct/27/rachel-maddow/president-bush-new-york-times-interviews/
2. Entered 10/22/2025
Republicans want higher interest rates on student loans to enrich banks
In April 2024, Maddow asserted that Republicans want Americans to pay more in student loan interest to enrich banks. The American Enterprise Institute fact-checked this, pointing out that private banks were removed from the student loan program in 2010, so they don't profit from these loans.
AI Overview
1. Entered 10/22/2025
Trump never endouraged individuals to take the covid vaccine
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2021/mar/04/rachel-maddow/what-trump-said-encourage-covid-19-vaccine-use/
As president, Donald Trump expressed support for the COVID-19 vaccines and vaccination by touting their life-saving potential and saying they would be safe and available to all. In a Dec. 17 tweet, he explicitly said, "Get those ‘shots’ everyone!"
One day after former President Donald Trump urged Americans to "go get your shot," the New York Times reported that he and first lady Melania Trump had quietly received their own COVID-19 vaccines on their way out of the White House in January.
The news rankled MSNBC host Rachel Maddow, who criticized Trump as having failed to promote the vaccines during his time in the White House.
"While he was president, President Trump never encouraged Americans to get vaccinated," Maddow said March 1 on her prime-time TV show. "Now we know that he himself took the vaccine in secret and never told anyone. What possible benefit was there to him to keep that secret from the public?"
His under-the-radar vaccination marked a divergence from the example set by other officials who got their vaccines in front of TV cameras, including President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and former Vice President Mike Pence.
But is it true that as president, Trump "never encouraged Americans to get vaccinated," as Maddow claimed?
In short, no. Trump’s public comments about the vaccines were typically in reference to his administration’s efforts to fast-track their development. But in several cases, he touted the life-saving potential of the vaccines. And in a tweet, Trump gave the encouragement Maddow said he never did during his time in the White House.
"The Vaccine and the Vaccine rollout are getting the best of reviews," Trump tweeted Dec. 17, one day before the Food and Drug Administration cleared a second vaccine for use. "Moving along really well. Get those ‘shots’ everyone!"
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