CNBC news show premiered last week, a loud crash and boom occurred during our interview. The jarring noise turned out to be a construction snafu nearby, but Smith was unrattled.
In fact, the gay journalist was jovial and quick on his feet, not showing any nerves about his highly-anticipated new show and moving from the polarizing, scandal-prone environment of Fox News to the type-A Wall Street energy of CNBC.Smith seemed to have a weight lifted off his shoulders now that his many years at Fox are behind him.
Before he left the network last year, Smith often ran afoul of his employer's corporate coddling of Donald Trump. Not only did he bump heads with his Fox News bosses and colleagues, the president himself turned on Smith for simply.