Former President Donald Trump will hold an Iowa town hall with Fox News Channel next week, opposite a CNN debate featuring 2024 rivals Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis, FNC announced Tuesday.
Trump, 77, was confirmed to miss the fifth debate of the Republican primary calendar on Jan. 10 in favor of an hour-long Des Moines event hosted by Fox News political anchor Bret Baier and “The Story” host Martha MacCallum.
Trump’s town hall will begin at 9pm ET, the same time as the CNN debate at nearby Drake University.
Haley, a former ambassador to the United Nations and former South Carolina governor, and DeSantis, the Florida governor, will be the only two contestants in the CNN debate after biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie failed to meet the network’s requirements for reach 10% in three Iowa or national polls.
The former president is gearing up for a split-screen showdown with his GOP rival in 2024. AP
The Trump campaign has refused to consider having the former president debate his primary rival, citing his large leads in state and primary elections.
Both DeSantis and Haley have urged Trump to join them on the debate stage.
“With only three qualified candidates, it’s time for Donald Trump to emerge,” Haley, 51, said in a statement Tuesday. “As the debate stage continues to shrink, it’s getting harder and harder for Donald Trump to hide.”
Republican presidential candidates have been debating each other in Donald Trump’s absence. AP
“We understand Donald Trump is afraid to get on stage because he’s finally going to have to explain why he didn’t build the wall, add nearly $8 trillion to the debt, and hand the country over to Fauci,” campaign communications director DeSantis Andrew Romeo posted on X.
“Even Gavin Newsom had the audacity to stand on stage to debate his own failing record against Ron Desantis. If it would make the debate more interesting, we would gladly agree to make it a sit-down format where the former president would be more comfortable.
Since his departure from the White House, Trump has had a love-hate relationship with Fox News — occasionally insulting it publicly from his Truth Social account.
Still, the former president has made several appearances on the network since launching his latest White House campaign in November 2022, including a town hall with Sean Hannity the day before the fourth GOP debate.
The former president was the forerunner. Reuters
In June, Trump sat down for an interview with Baier, who talked him into various issues such as the handling of classified documents, claims of 2020 election fraud and more.
Trump slammed Baier afterward, calling the interview “disgusting,” while maintaining, “I thought I did a good job.”
Fox News teased that the Jan. 10 town hall “will focus on key issues facing voters ahead of the Iowa Caucuses,” which will be held on Jan. 15.
“The town hall marks the first time the former president will sit with Baier and MacCallum together since May 2020.”
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
