There was definitely some fuckery going on, since he did a three hour interview with Trump the day he claimed as a “personal day” right in the middle of her visit. They didn’t outright reject her, just made the terms too difficult to meet. Though I will say that this:

“The vice president of the United States is offering to come to your f—ing show, and you keep putting up more hoops,” the book quoted Flaherty’s thinking at the time as being.

This type of thinking is a big part of what ruined her campaign. They treated an interview like a favor to Rogan, not as a two way deal. Expecting the media (especially a notably right-leaning podcaster) to bend over backwards to accommodate them was absolutely absurd.