In a surprising move, Fox News has announced that it would be restricting access to the Republican Party primary debate taking place in Milwaukee this Wednesday. The news comes after President Donald Trump declared that he would not be attending the debate and instead would be holding a pre-recorded interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson at the same time.
According to a Fox News memo, only “participating candidate/campaigns” would receive access to the “spin room”, where surrogates would typically tout the person they are supporting or attack their foes. Other campaigns that do not qualify would also be excluded from sending their surrogates.
President Trump cited a recent CBS News GOP primary poll when making his decision to skip the debate. The poll included a question for “likely Republican primary voters” asking if Trump should or should not participate in the debate; 73% said that he should, while 27% said that he should not.
President Joe Biden has yet to confirm if he will participate in a potential debate with President Trump if Trump is the Republican Party nominee. Steve Doocy of Fox News suggested that President Trump’s decision to skip the Milwaukee debate could be unintentionally helping Biden by offering him a potential excuse to shy away from debating Trump.
So far, the Republican National Committee and the Trump campaign have remained silent on the matter. It remains to be seen if other candidates or campaigns will be affected by the decision to restrict access to the Milwaukee debate. In any case, it looks like this primary season is shaping up to be an interesting one.
Former President Trump is expected to turn himself to Fulton County, Georgia officials on August 24 and his bond has been set at $200,000.
Co-defendant attorney, John Eastman, turned himself in on August 22, 2023 and was booked by local officials.
