Greta Van Susteren to launch new program with first guests including Tulsi Gabbard, Tony Dungy

Greta Van Susteren will launch a new political talk program Sunday night, with her first guests including presidential candidate Rep. Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii) and former NFL coach Tony Dungy. 

“Full Court Press” will be on in 93 markets including New York, Washington and Los Angeles via Atlanta-based Gray Television. 

Van Susteren has hosted programs on CNN, Fox News and MSNBC going back to 1994. Her most recent employer was Voice of America, where she hosted a weekly 30-minute program called “Plugged In With Greta Van Susteren.”   

{mosads}”When I was on cable, I had about five or six bureaus. Now that I’m with Gray, they have 143 stations in 93 markets. Gray has all these stations in important states for the 2020 elections. I have correspondents virtually peppering the entire country, so I have incredible access,” Van Susteren said in a phone interview with The Hill. 

“Then I dug a little deeper, and I guess I discovered the obvious: The American viewer trusts local news far more than it trusts national or cable. And I thought: Maybe that trust can rub off on me. So I thought this might be exactly what I’m looking for,” the former attorney added.

Van Susteren will provide Gray TV’s newsrooms “with the expert, unbiased coverage of national and international political developments that have been the hallmark of her distinguished news career,” the company said. “In addition, she has two nationally syndicated shows in development with Gray.”

“The show will tap the knowledge and expertise of Gray Television’s trusted bench of reporters who will provide on-the-ground reports from their communities,” said Sandy Breland, senior vice president of Gray TV. “It’s a perfect time to highlight politics through the local lens as viewers rank local news as their most trusted source. We look forward to Greta bringing her firm but fair approach to broadcast television.”

Van Susteren says that she specifically wanted Gabbard on her program because of how she stands out in the wide 2020 Democratic primary field.

“The reason why I wanted Tulsi Gabbard is because out of the pack of 20 or so Democrats that are running, she’s probably the one that is most unlike the others. So I wanted to hear from her,” she says. “Because the other ones have policies that pretty much match each other, and it becomes a beauty contest among the others because they have so much in common.” 

The program will air out of Washington, with starting times varying station to station on Sundays.