Former President Donald Trump will skip the forthcoming GOP presidential debate in Iowa hosted by CNN and instead partake in a town hall moderated by Fox News hosts Martha MacCallum and Bret Baier on the same day.
BREAKING: FOX NEWS TO HOST TRUMP TOWN HALL IN IOWA ON JANUARY 10
NEW–@FoxNews will be hosting a primetime Iowa Town Hall with former President @realDonaldTrump at 9:00pm/EST on Wednesday, January 10th–just five days before the caucuses.
Co-moderated by @SpecialReport's chief… pic.twitter.com/pTyDbktCaB
— America's Newsroom (@AmericaNewsroom) January 2, 2024
The scheduled Fox News town hall follows a trend by the former president to answer questions from reporters that he claims are unfair.
The former president referred to Fox News as a “hostile network,” while criticizing a 2023 interview he partook in with Baier. Trump claimed that the interview had been “really unfriendly.”
“When I did the interview with Bret, I thought it was fine. I thought it was OK, but there was nothing friendly about it,” he said in 2023. “You know, it was nasty. And I thought I did a good job; I’ve been given credit for doing a good job.”
“No smiling, no ‘let’s have fun, let’s Make America Great Again.’ Everything was like a hit,” he continued.
Shortly after interviewing Trump, Bair told Women’s Wear Daily that the former president reached out to him after their interview and said it was “tough but fair.”
“Immediately after the tape stopped, he said that he thought he was strong in the interview. And he said it was tough but fair,” the Fox News host said. “I made sure to get some of that on camera. He has since [said] it was nasty or not nice.”
The next GOP debate, scheduled for Jan. 10, 2024, will be moderated by CNN hosts Jake Tapper and Dana Bash.
Baier and MacCallum previously moderated the first 2024 GOP presidential debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which garnered about 13 million views — a low number compared to those who watched former Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s interview with Trump on X, formerly known as Twitter.
Fox News host Sean Hannity’s show, “Hannity,” which airs at 9 p.m. daily, will be moved when the town hall with Trump occurs since the event will begin at that time.
Fox News said the town hall “will focus on the leading issues facing voters ahead of the Iowa caucuses,” scheduled for Jan. 15, 2024.
