Bret Baier Reveals Fox News Speaker Forum Called Off After Candidates Pull Out

Fox News host Bret Baier revealed during a broadcast on Friday that the planned forum with three of the major contenders for House speaker has fallen apart after the candidates pulled out.

Kevin McCarthy was ousted earlier this week after eight Republicans sided with Democrats to vacate the speakership following a motion from Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL). The House GOP is now trying to determine who in the Republican majority will succeed McCarthy.

Baier revealed that he initially planned to do a joint interview with House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA), Rep. Jim Jordan (R-OH), and Republican Study Committee Chairman Kevin Hern (R-OK) for an event this upcoming Monday.

“All three of them knew that they were going to be on together Monday on Capitol Hill. We agreed to hold back the announcement of that until Special Report tonight to wait for Congressman Hearn to, as expected, get into the speaker’s race,” Baier told fellow host Martha MacCallum.

However, discussions broke down and the event was eventually canceled on Friday after the details were leaked to the public. The Fox host also called out false reports he was set to host a private forum of the candidates.

Today this morning, there was some kind of leak on Capitol Hill. We obviously worked with a number of staffs to set up a Monday and how the logistics are going to work. Somehow, somewhere, it leaked on Capitol Hill with some bizarre stories and weird reporting that I was going to be moderating a debate privately for the Republican caucus and then something else. But bottom line is it leaked and then there became pressure from other members on these three to not do that before they talked to members.

Congressman Hern still has not declared for speaker, but yet he tweeted out this afternoon that I haven’t decided whether I’m going to run, but I can tell you this. I’m not going to be on TV before I talk to the Republican members. So they had all agreed the pressure built and that’s what happened. It’s not going to happen on Monday. We’re still going to do the show on Capitol Hill. And we’re booking some interesting guests there as well. But I think that the word debate has scared folks over the past couple of days, and we’re hoping to change that. We’re going to use a different word going forward in that interview.

Jordan was officially endorsed by former President Donald Trump on Friday morning. Meanwhile, Hern, who leads the largest conservative caucus in the House has not yet announced his bid.

Watch the full clip above via Fox News.

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