British celebrity presenter Piers Morgan said he has landed the first international television interview with U.S. President Donald Trump since he took office, planning to broadcast it on ITV on Sunday.
Morgan said he would interview Trump on Thursday on the sidelines of the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
“I will sit down today in Davos with @realDonaldTrump for his 1st international TV interview since becoming president. It will air exclusively on ITV, this Sunday night at 10 pm (2200 GMT),’’ Morgan told his 6.3 million Twitter followers.
Morgan, 52, said he would discuss the interview and show clips from it on Friday during ITV’s “Good Morning Britain’’ programme, which he co-hosts.
The programme runs from 6:00 am to 8:30 am (0600-0830 GMT).
Morgan claims to be a friend of Trump, and his Twitter account is one of just 45 that the U.S. president follows.
He supported Trump’s presidential campaign, interviewing him once for “Good Morning Britain,’’ and has been one of his strongest British defenders since he took office.
But he has also used his column for The Daily Mail, a right-wing British newspaper with a huge online audience, to criticise some of the U.S. president’s sexist and racist comments.
The presenter is familiar to audiences in the United States.
He took over from Larry King Live on CNN, hosting Piers Morgan Live from 2011 to 2014.
He also met Trump in 2008 when he won a U.S. celebrity version of “The Apprentice,’’ a business-themed reality show that Trump hosted. (dpa/NAN)