JUST IN: Trump Reportedly Plans To Skip Fox News Debate For Interview With Ex-Host Tucker Carlson
AP Photo/Seth Wenig, File
Donald Trump plans to skip the first Republican debate hosted by Fox News on Wednesday in Milwaukee for an interview with ex-Fox host Tucker Carlson, according to the New York Times.
Trump has reportedly told people close to him that he will skip the debate despite urgings from top executives at Fox for him to attend. The Republican frontrunner has posted multiple messages via Truth Social in recent weeks speculating whether to attend the debate because of his large lead in the primary.
During campaign rallies and private meetings with aides, Trump has repeatedly asked people whether he should attend the event. In many cases, Trump has indicated he may give a last-minute surprise appearance to debate his Republican contenders in person.
Earlier this month, Trump met with Fox News’s President Jay Wallace and the network’s CEO Suzanne Scott for dinner at his club in Bedminster. The pair urged Trump to not skip the debate and the former president indicated he was open to the idea.
However, that has all changed this week as the former president plans to do a sit-down interview with Carlson on August 24th, an affront to not only the RNC but Fox News as well. Fox fired Carlson in late April and has been publicly sparring with him since as he remains under a non-compete agreement, which he appears to be violating.
Per the NYT:
The timing of the interview with Mr. Carlson remains unclear, but if it goes ahead as currently planned, the debate-night counterprogramming would serve as an act of open hostility.
The chairwoman of the R.N.C., Ronna McDaniel, has privately urged Mr. Trump to attend the debate, even traveling to his private club in Bedminster, N.J., last month to make her pitch in person.
And Fox News has been drawn into a public battle not only with Mr. Trump but with Mr. Carlson, who is still on contract and being paid by Fox despite having his show taken off the air. Fox sent Mr. Carlson a cease-and-desist letter after he aired a series of videos on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter. The Trump campaign’s conversations with Mr. Carlson — and the possibility of counterprogramming — have previously been reported by multiple news organizations
Recently, Trump has gone after the conservative new network for giving airtime to his primary candidates such as Ron DeSantis and Chris Christie, but also broadcasting the views of his critics, including former Attorney General Bill Barr. Earlier this week, Trump slammed Fox News for giving Barr an interview, claiming on Truth Social, “Unless FoxNews starts putting the RIGHT people on, their Ratings will never recover.”
