Take...

Greta Van Susteren on Hillary, the media and her future

By Anna Palmer

Veteran Fox News anchor Greta Van Susteren abruptly left the cable network last week after efforts to renegotiate her contract in the wake of Roger Ailes' departure stalled. Speaking from Nantucket in her first post-Fox interview, Van Susteren told POLITICO's Playbook she wants to return to TV -- but for now is focused on engaging with her million-plus followers on social media. Van Susteren, who declined to talk about her Fox departure, was eager to discuss the state of media, the 2016 election cycle and why she's wishing Hillary Clinton well:

On 2016 coverage: "Here's how I grade it - are the voters getting information? And the voters are getting information. So I think, look, the coverage is good and I think there is a lot of the media sniping at each other because we like to talk about each other, but fundamentally you have to step back. ... I think a lot of it has been silly and wild and circus-like, but when you sort of look through all that stuff - let me go back to the fundamental question, which is: Are the voters getting information? And if the answer is yes, then in spite of everything else we are doing our job."

She wants to return to TV and didn't rule out CNN: "I hope to return to TV, but if I don't that's OK too. I've been around this business for a long time. It's fun, it's enriching, it's exciting. I've had great years. I had many great journalism colleagues at the Fox News Channel. I had the same at CNN and if something comes my way I will grab it. If it doesn't, I'll figure something else out. It's a big world...

"Nobody is asking me anything right now. Here's all I want: I just want to do my hour and do the best job I can. It doesn't matter where I do it because I never never had anyone tell me what to say at CNN and I never never had anyone tell me what to say at the Fox News Channel. As long as you don't have command influence, and I never had it, I'll go any place."

She's focused on reaching audience through social media: "TV is really fun, but I've always liked the interactive stuff on social media, where you get to respond to comments and stuff like that. It's better suited for my nature than perhaps sitting in a TV studio. I love being in a TV studio -- don't get me wrong; I hope to go back to TV. But it's fascinating how you can reach so many people. And because I've built up this audience over so many years they are migrating to my Facebook page ... I think it's really just a community, sort of like a neighborhood block, it's almost like a block party."

She hopes Hillary makes a speedy recovery: "A lot of people have had pneumonia. Look, she's been running 24-7 so I'm not surprised she's sick, who wouldn't be. That's not surprising. I don't know the extent of her health, but I hope she gets better and she gets back up on the horse really fast and campaigns. I'm not saying you should vote for her or vote for Trump. I want both candidates at least to be talking about the issues and I don't want anybody to get sick."

This election is the strangest she's ever covered: "In 2000, when I was standing down in Florida at the recount watching through the glass window people looking at hanging chads, I thought it could never get weirder than this ... Well, I think we just matched it. I have no prediction on this."