Now it’s Tom Llamas‘ turn to try his hand at a Super Bowl tradition: the pre-game interview with the President of the United States.
Llamas, the anchor of “NBC Nightly News,” will sit down with President Donald Trump for an exclusive interview at the White House on Wednesday, February 4. A portion of the exchange will air on “NBC Nightly News” at 6:30 p.m. eastern that day, with an extended version streaming on “Top Story with Tom Llamas,” the live-streamed programs shown on NBC News Now, at 7 p.m.
A separate segment of the interview will air during NBC’s Super Bowl pre-game show on Sunday, February 8.
NBC’s handling of the “get” spotlights how much the business of news has changed. In most years, the Super Bowl pre-game interview got the most emphasis, with other segments following across other shows backed by the news outlet that snared the access. But in an era when news doesn’t hold for very long, NBC News may feel obligated to share what it has as soon as its able.
One reason for the different order in distribution? The interview, which became a more formal part of the Super Bowl ritual during the Obama administration, has become less of a guarantee in recent years. President Trump avoided one with NBC News in 2018, and President Joe Biden didn’t take part in one with Fox in 2023 or CBS News in 2024 — in hindsight, that decision may have been tied to what were perceived to be some declines in his public-speaking abilities.
Trump sat down with Fox News’ Bret Baier for a pre-taped exchange that aired ahead of Fox’s telecast of Super Bowl LIX in 2025. President Joe Biden spoke to NBC’s Lester Holt in 2022.
A bevy of TV journalists have described the Super Bowl interview as one of the toughest assignments in TV news. Over the years, notable anchors including Gayle King, Scott Pelley and Matt Lauer have interviewed the president, all of them live. “I would say it’s the most important interview of my life,” Bill O’Reilly told Variety in 2017 in the hours leading up to his interview with Trump before Fox’s broadcast of Super Bowl LI. NBC News’ Savannah Guthrie interviewed President Obama in 2015, and told Variety the process was “really tricky.“
But it has become less so during Trump’s time in office. The interviews in recent years have almost all been taped beforehand, giving news organizations the chance to edit remarks and decide how best to feed different programs and various platforms that range from streaming services to traditional TV shows.
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