The video that exposed relationship between Trump donor and CNBC anchor behind Jeff Shell ouster
CNBC reporter Hadley Gamble had a romantic relationship with billionaire Tom Barrack that was exposed to her coworkers way back in 2020 — after the prominent Trump backer accidentally loafed on camera while she was filming her show, The Post has learned.
Gamble’s affair with Barrack surfaced after revelations regarding her “inappropriate relationship” with ousted NBCUniversal CEO Jeff Shell – who was fired last Sunday after an internal investigation after “a complaint of inappropriate conduct.”
In behind-the-scenes video from the summer of 2020 obtained by The Post, a pink dress-clad Gamble can be seen preparing for a live shot on the set of her CNBC International show “Capital Connection” when a man casually walks into the frame.
The nine-second video was taken in Bodrum, Turkey, where Gamble was preparing to host the show remotely from a ritzy hotel suite.
The man, who was wearing a T-shirt and shorts and appeared to be barefoot, lingers in the shot for several seconds while Gamble frantically attempts to get his attention and shoo him away.
At one point, she shifts in her seat in an apparent bid to block the man from the camera’s view.
Eventually, Gamble turns around to get his attention and then smiles sheepishly into the camera as the man exits the room. Three sources identified the man in the background of the video as Barrack.
The video of the incident was leaked across CNBC newsrooms and sparked murmuring among staffers who questioned whether Gamble, then 39, had been dating Barrack, then 74, at the time of the interview — as well as why the relationship was never disclosed on air.
Gamble’s relationship with Barrack prompted a human resources probe at CNBC in 2021 — after she secured an interview with Trump’s senior advisor and son-in-law Jared Kushner.
Gamble’s attorney, Suzanne McKie of Farore Law in London, told The Post that Barrack “did not organize an interview” between Gamble and Kushner, adding that Gamble had previously met Kushner at the Peace to Prosperity Summit in Bahrain in June 2019. McKie said the probe cleared Gamble of any wrongdoing.
McKie said Gamble met Barrack for the “first time” at the February 2020 CNBC interview in Abu Dhabi, and their romantic relationship began sometime after that meeting.
“While the rest of us were fighting to get any opportunity, she would fly first class and brag about it on Instagram, wearing Louboutins, staying in five-star hotels,” said a source close to the matter. “We also hated how that reflected on the [CNBC] brand and our journalistic credibility by association but our complaints fell on deaf ears.”
“Nobody could figure out why she was being protected,” the source added. “Any normal employee would be fired.”
