Geraldo Rivera on his friendship with Donald Trump: ‘He knows I love him’

Author, talk show host and political pundit Geraldo Rivera stopped by The Howard Stern Show on Tuesday to discuss his career and all things politics. On the day of the New York primaries, Rivera, a known Republican, discussed his relationship with GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump.

Trump received criticism for how he reacted to a question from Megyn Kelly, who was moderating a Republican presidential debate in August. Rivera was also among those who weren’t happy with how Trump reacted.

“‘Silly’ is exactly the word I used,” Rivera said. “Come on, one hard question from one reporter and you’re gonna go off like this and get obsessive about this? It was weird and it was pointless. Very, very uncomfortable.”

Rivera hasn’t been shy to criticize Trump on his program on Fox News, but due to his friendship with the billionaire, it’s not rare for him to call Rivera to discuss his criticism.

“I have heard from Trump many times and let me just say that he knows I love him,” Rivera said. “I love his family.”

Rivera went on to list Trump’s children by name and say he loves them all. Still, Rivera can’t bring himself to agree with some of Trump’s stances on certain issues.

“With Donald, I begged him on immigration, I begged him,” Rivera said. “Today is different, who I vote for today is different. But in a general election, I said, ‘How could I vote for someone who wants to deport families that have citizen children?’ You can’t do that!”

Rivera went on to say that Trump’s extreme stances might be attributed to the nature of the Republican nomination process.

“The problem is this, Howard,” he said. “If you want to be the Republican nominee these days, you have to be a crazy person.”

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