Eric Thomas Bolling (; born March 2, 1963) is an American television personality,

conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy and ideology that seeks to promote and preserve traditional institutions, customs, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civiliza ...

political commentator A pundit is a person who offers opinion in an authoritative manner on a particular subject area (typically politics, the social sciences, technology or sport), usually through the mass media. The term pundit describes both women and men, altho ...

, author, and financial commentator. He has occupied numerous roles as a commentator on financial issues for television, most notably for

Fox News The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American Multinational corporation, multinational Conservatism in the United States, conservative List of news television channels, news and political commentary Television stati ...

. He hosted Fox Business Channel's ''Cashin' In'' and

Fox News Channel The Fox News Channel (FNC), commonly known as Fox News, is an American multinational conservative news and political commentary television channel and website based in New York City, U.S. It is owned by Fox News Media, which itself is ow ...

's '' The Five'' before leaving in May 2017. A staunch ally of

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...

, Bolling has published two books: ''Wake Up America'' (2016) and ''The Swamp: Washington's Murky Pool of Corruption and Cronyism and How Trump Can Drain It'' (2017). In September 2017, Bolling was ousted from Fox News, after the network conducted an independent investigation following an article published by ''

HuffPost ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers p ...

'' reporting that Bolling had sent unsolicited lewd photographs and text messages to three female colleagues. Bolling denied the allegations. He later hosted the television shows ''America'' on

TheBlaze Blaze Media is an American conservative media company. It was founded in 2018 as a result of a merger between TheBlaze and CRTV LLC. The company's leadership consists of Chief executive officer, CEO Tyler Cardon and president Gaston Mooney. ...

and ''America This Week'' produced by

Sinclair Broadcast Group Sinclair, Inc., doing business as Sinclair Broadcast Group, is a publicly traded American telecommunications conglomerate that is controlled by the descendants of company founder Julian Sinclair Smith. Headquartered in the Baltimore suburb o ...

and carried by their stations as a

Sunday morning talk show A Sunday morning talk show is a television program with a news/ talk/ public affairs–hybrid format that is broadcast on Sunday mornings. This type of program originated in the United States, and has since been used in other countries. Sunday mor ...

. Most recently, Bolling hosted a weeknight hour-long program, ''Eric Bolling The Balance'', on Newsmax TV, from July 5, 2021 until May 31, 2024.

Early life and career

Bolling was born in Chicago and attended grade school at Queen of All Saints Basilica school and high school at Loyola Academy. In 1984 he graduated from

Rollins College Rollins College is a Liberal arts college, private liberal arts college in Winter Park, Florida. It was founded in November 1885 and has about 30 undergraduate majors and several master's programs. Florida's fourth oldest post-secondary institut ...

Winter Park, Florida Winter Park is a city in Orange County, Florida, United States. The population was 29,795 according to the 2020 census. It is part of the Greater Orlando, Orlando–Kissimmee–Sanford, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area. Winter Park was foun ...

, with a

Bachelor of Arts A Bachelor of Arts (abbreviated B.A., BA, A.B. or AB; from the Latin ', ', or ') is the holder of a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate program in the liberal arts, or, in some cases, other disciplines. A Bachelor of Arts deg ...

economics Economics () is a behavioral science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and interac ...

. He also played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played by Student athlete, student-athletes at institutions of higher education. In the United States, college baseball is sanctioned mainly by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); in Japan, ...

at Rollins. The

Pittsburgh Pirates The Pittsburgh Pirates are an American professional baseball team based in Pittsburgh. The Pirates compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Central, Central ...

selected Bolling in the 22nd round of the 1984 Major League Baseball draft. His baseball career was cut short by a torn

rotator cuff The rotator cuff (SITS muscles) is a group of muscles and their tendons that act to stabilize the human shoulder and allow for its extensive range of motion. Of the seven scapulohumeral muscles, four make up the rotator cuff. The four muscles a ...

injury. Bolling worked as a commodities trader on

Wall Street Wall Street is a street in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It runs eight city blocks between Broadway (Manhattan), Broadway in the west and South Street (Manhattan), South Str ...

. For five years,Hal Boedeker
Fox News Channel: Eric Bolling to become 'Cashin' In' host
''Orlando Sentinel'' (January 24, 2013). he was a board member of the

New York Mercantile Exchange The New York Mercantile Exchange (NYMEX) is a commodity futures exchange owned and operated by CME Group of Chicago. NYMEX is located at One North End Avenue in Brookfield Place in the Battery Park City section of Manhattan, New York City. ...

,Callum Borchers
Trump superfan Eric Bolling gets a new show on Fox News. That's a win for the White House.
''Washington Post'' (April 20, 2017). later becoming a strategic advisor to the exchange.

Career as political commentator

CNBC

Bolling was one of several analysts who appeared on

CNBC CNBC is an American List of business news channels, business news channel owned by the NBCUniversal News Group, a unit of Comcast's NBCUniversal. The network broadcasts live business news and analysis programming during the morning, Day ...

's '' Fast Money'' as a panelist.

Fox News

Bolling joined Fox Business Network in March 2008 as a financial analyst.Eric Bolling Named Co-Host of Happy Hour on FOX Business Network
(press release), Fox Business Network (November 10, 2008). In 2008, Bolling was named a co-host (joining Cody Willard and Rebecca Diamond) of ''Happy Hour'', a market commentary show in the 5 p.m. time slot. After hosting Fox Business Channel's ''Follow the Money with Eric Bolling'', he became the host of the channel's ''Cashin' In'' in 2013, replacing Cheryl Casone. The program ran on Saturdays. Bolling also co-hosted

's '' The Five''. In June 2011 on the Fox Business Network, Bolling criticized President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

's decision to meet with Gabon's president, Ali Bongo Ondimba, in the White House. Bolling remarked, "Guess who's coming to dinner? A dictator." He then went on to also criticize Obama for allowing rapper

Common Common may refer to: As an Irish surname, it is anglicised from Irish Gaelic surname Ó Comáin. Places * Common, a townland in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland * Boston Common, a central public park in Boston, Massachusetts * Cambridge Com ...

to appear in the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest (Washington, D.C.), NW in Washington, D.C., it has served as the residence of every U.S. president ...

a few weeks before, exclaiming "it's not the first time he's had a hoodlum in the hizzouse." Progressive group

Media Matters Media Matters for America (MMfA) is a non-profit left-leaning watchdog journalism organization. It was founded in 2004 by journalist and political activist David Brock as a counterweight to the conservative Media Research Center. It seeks to ...

criticized Bolling, saying "Calling the president of Gabon and Common 'hoods in the hizzy' is not colorful commentary, it is overt racism." Bolling first defended himself on

Twitter Twitter, officially known as X since 2023, is an American microblogging and social networking service. It is one of the world's largest social media platforms and one of the most-visited websites. Users can share short text messages, image ...

before later apologizing, saying, "We got a little fast and loose with the language, and we know it's been interpreted as being disrespectful, and for that, I'm sorry." Media Matters also criticized Bolling for his on-air promotion of citizenship conspiracy theories about Barack Obama ("birtherism") and conspiracy theories about the murder of Seth Rich, as well as for his claim in 2011 that "liberal Hollywood was using class warfare" in a Muppets movie "to brainwash our kids" and his claim in 2012 that "Every terrorist on American soil has been a Muslim."Julie Alderman
ABC's This Week to host Eric Bolling, a misogynistic, bigoted birther from Fox News
Media Matters for America (June 21, 2017). In 2017, Bob Beckel said that Bolling and

Roger Ailes Roger Eugene Ailes (May 15, 1940 – May 18, 2017) was an American television executive and media consultant. He was the chairman and CEO of Fox News, Fox Television Stations and 20th Television. Ailes was a media consultant for Republic ...

saved his life after performing the Heimlich maneuver on him at a restaurant. While at Fox, Bolling was a guest host on several Fox News opinion shows, such as ''

The O'Reilly Factor ''The O'Reilly Factor'' (originally titled ''The O'Reilly Report'' and also known as ''The Factor'') is an American cable television news and talk show. ''The O'Reilly Factor'' first aired in the United States on Fox News Channel on October 7 ...

'', and '' Fox and Friends''. In April 2017, as part of prime-time lineup changes with Bill O'Reilly's exit, Fox announced that ''The Five'' would be moving to the 9 p.m. time slot. '' Fox News Specialists'' was created to replace ''The Five'' in the 5 p.m. time slot, with Bolling serving as a co-host alongside Katherine Timpf and Eboni Williams. The program premiered on May 1, 2017, but was cancelled when Bolling departed the network.

Trump support and political commentary

Bolling describes his commentary as "really right wing, hard-core conservative commentaries" and has said, "I think this is what my brand personally is all about."Hadas Gold
Fox's Bolling talks of a future Senate run
''Politico'' (June 19, 2017). Bolling has been an outspoken and longtime supporter of

, vocally supporting him since the launch of his

presidential campaign A political campaign is an organized effort which seeks to influence the decision making progress within a specific group. In democracies, political campaigns often refer to electoral campaigns, by which representatives are chosen or referen ...

in 2015.Maxwell Tani
Fox News host with close ties to Trump discusses his dynamic role at the network
''Business Insider'' (December 28, 2016). Trump and Bolling first met on the set of '' The Apprentice'' about ten years before Trump's 2016 presidential campaign; the two were introduced by

Mark Burnett James Mark Burnett (born 17 July 1960) is a British television producer who has won thirteen Emmy Awards including ten Primetime, one Sports Emmy Award and two Daytime Emmy Awards. His other accolades include five Producers Guild of America A ...

, a mutual friend, and went on to develop close ties. In November 2016, after Trump's election but before his inauguration, Bolling was considered by Trump for an appointment in the U.S. Department of Commerce, and the following month, Bolling described himself as "fortunate enough to have a close relationship with the incoming administration." Bolling's promotion to hosting his own show on Fox News, effective at the beginning of May 2017, was seen as a victory for the Trump White House. Bolling interviewed Trump more than six times over his presidency.Alex Isenstadt
Former Fox host Eric Bolling considering congressional campaign
''Politico'' (March 12, 2021).

Sexual harassment allegations and ouster

On August 4, 2017, ''

'' reported that several years before and on separate occasions, Bolling allegedly sent unsolicited lewd text messages and lewd photos to three female colleagues at Fox News or Fox Business Network. He was also accused of making "wildly inappropriate" comments to female employees. After the article was published a former Fox News guest alleged that Bolling made numerous unwanted sexual advances towards her. Bolling denied the allegations against him. The day after the ''HuffPost'' article was published, Bolling was suspended from Fox News pending an investigation, which the network commissioned the law firm Paul, Weiss to conduct. A few days after the article was published, Bolling filed a

summons A summons (also known in England and Wales as a claim form or plaint note, and in the Australian state of New South Wales as a court attendance notice (CAN)) is a legal document issued by a court (a ''judicial summons'') or by an administrative ag ...

and "notice of an intent to file a defamation lawsuit" in New York state court for $50 million against freelance writer

Yashar Ali Yashar Ali (born Yashar Ali Hedayat; November 23, 1979) is an American journalist who has contributed to ''HuffPost'', NBC News, and ''New York (magazine), New York'' magazine. In 2019, Ali was included in ''Time (magazine), Time'' magazine's li ...

, who wrote the story for ''HuffPost''. Bolling's summons did not specify the statements he contended were defamatory, and he did not bring an actual

complaint In legal terminology, a complaint is any formal legal document that sets out the facts and legal reasons (see: cause of action) that the filing party or parties (the plaintiff(s)) believes are sufficient to support a claim against the party ...

against Ali. Ali and ''HuffPost'' stood by the accuracy of the article; Ali's lawyer, in a letter to Bolling's lawyer, wrote that any lawsuit would be frivolous because Bolling is a

public figure A public figure is a person who has achieved fame, prominence or notoriety within a society, whether through achievement, luck, action, or in some cases through no purposeful action of their own. In the context of defamation actions (libel and ...

, because "Mr. Ali conducted a thorough investigation and verified his information with 14 independent sources," and because "truth is always a defense to defamation." On September 8, 2017, Bolling departed Fox News. In a statement, the network said that "Eric Bolling and Fox have agreed to part ways amicably." As a result of his departure, ''Fox News Specialists'' was canceled by the network.

Career after Fox

Blaze Media

Bolling joined the Conservative Review's CRTV in the summer of 2018. CRTV merged with TheBlaze to form Blaze Media in 2018; in December 2018, Bolling signed an agreement to stay with Blaze Media through 2021. Bolling hosted the television show ''America'' on

Sinclair Broadcast Group

Bolling began hosting ''America This Week'', which is produced by

and carried by their stations as a

, in 2019. At Sinclair, Bolling repeatedly promoted Trump's campaign to discredit voting by mail and noted that mail-in voting was prone to fraud. In 2020, Bolling conducted an interview for ''America This Week'' with Judy Mikovits, a researcher featured in the video '' Plandemic''. The video promotes theories regarding the coronavirus pandemic, and suggests that Dr.

Anthony Fauci Anthony Stephen Fauci ( ; born December 24, 1940) is an American physician-scientist and immunologist who served as the director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) from 1984 to 2022, and the chief medical ...

, the U.S. government's chief infectious disease scientist, "manufactured"

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

. In the segment, Bolling also interviewed Mikovits's lawyer, Larry Klayman. After the plans to air the segment on local Sinclair stations across the U.S. generated criticism, Sinclair postponed the segment to "rework" it before dropping the segment entirely two days later. Bolling said he did not endorse Mikovits' claims. In January 2021, Sinclair announced the cancellation of the show. After his Sinclair program was canceled, Bolling launched a podcast co-hosted with former football player

Brett Favre Brett Lorenzo Favre ( ; born October 10, 1969) is an American former professional American football, football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for 20 seasons, primarily with the Green Bay Packers. Favre had 321 cons ...

Consideration of Congressional runs

In June 2017, Bolling publicly mulled running as a Republican for

U.S. Senate The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...

after his contract with Fox expired; Bolling opined that some Republicans were insufficiently right wing. In early 2021, Bolling considered a Congressional run in 2022, looking into a possible Republican primary challenge in

South Carolina South Carolina ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders North Carolina to the north and northeast, the Atlantic Ocean to the southeast, and Georgia (U.S. state), Georg ...

to either Representative Tom Rice (who voted to impeach Trump over his role in the 2021 United States Capitol riot) or Representative

Nancy Mace Nancy Ruth Mace (born December 4, 1977) is an American politician who has been the United States House of Representatives, U.S. representative for South Carolina's 1st congressional district since 2021. She is a member of the Republican Party (U ...

Personal life

Bolling lives in

Boca Raton, Florida Boca Raton ( ; ) is a city in Palm Beach County, Florida, United States. The population was 97,422 in the 2020 United States census, 2020 census and it ranked as the 23rd-largest city in Florida in 2022. Many people with a Boca Raton Address, ...

. He is

Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. He and his wife Adrienne’s one son, Eric Chase Bolling, died on September 8, 2017, from an accidental drug overdose. Eric was 19 years old. His death occurred on the same day his father departed Fox News.

Books

*''Wake Up America: The Nine Virtues That Made Our Nation Great—and Why We Need Them More Than Ever'' (2016) - Bolling's first book. *''The Swamp: Washington's Murky Pool of Corruption and Cronyism and How Trump Can Drain It'' (2017)

References

External links

''America This Week with Eric Bolling''
on

WJLA-TV WJLA-TV (channel 7) is a television station in Washington, D.C., affiliated with ABC. It is one of two flagship stations of Sinclair Broadcast Group (alongside dual Fox/MyNetworkTV affiliate WBFF hannel 45in Baltimore), and is also sister ...

''America with Eric Bolling''
on CRTV {{DEFAULTSORT:Bolling, Eric 1963 births Living people American broadcast news analysts American commodities traders American political commentators Catholics from Illinois CNBC people Fox Business people Fox News people Gulf Coast Pirates players Florida Republicans Illinois Republicans Journalists from Chicago Rollins College alumni Blaze Media people Newsmax TV people