Marco Rubio called Donald Trump’s decision to bow out of Thursday night’s Republican presidential debate an “entertaining sideshow” to what candidates should discuss. Texas Sen.
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Trump plans to hold a fund-raiser for veterans at the same time as tonight’s debate (9 p.m. eastern time). Santorum railed, going well over his time, to complain about the moniker “undercard debate” and slammed networks for excluding his name from campaign coverage. “You have a chance, Iowa, on Monday to put the record straight about who you want, not who will entertain you”.
Trump will be joined by Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum, presidential candidates who did not make the cut for Fox’s main stage debate.
Cruz, who has risen to second place in many polls, is neck-and-neck with Trump in Iowa, though he is well-positioned in many Southern states that go to the polls in March. “I don’t think she’s good at what she does and I think she’s highly overrated”. “I’m not bankrolled by Goldman, I’m sponsored by people like Thomas, a part-time Uber driver in Pennsylvania”.
Many attendees at the event were eager to express their support for the NY billionaire. “I hate to tell you”, Trump said in an interview. Aside from Trump and the four Republicans who denounced on his decision, the other participants include retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson, Ohio Gov. John Kasich, and Kentucky Sen. During an earlier debate, he said he felt Fox News host Megyn Kelly’s questions were unfair.
Carly Fiorina said she’d toss $2 million to veterans for the opportunity to debate GOP frontrunner Donald Trump. The network said Trump offered to appear at the debate if Fox agreed to contribute $5 million to his charities.
Fox did not leave an empty podium for Trump at its debate, and didn’t mention his absence until Kelly opened the questioning, speaking to Sen.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump listens as Treasure Island Casino owner Phil Ruffin, right, speaks at a event in support of veterans at Drake University in Des Moines, Iowa, Thursday, Jan. 28, 2016.
“I’m the only veteran in the race”, Gilmore, whose appearance was his first at any debate since he jumped into the race.
“I’m told we have more cameras than they do”, Trump said. “Instead I will only call her a lightweight reporter!”.
“We explained that was not possible and we could not engage in a quid pro quo, nor could any money change hands for any reason”, Fox said in the statement. C-Span will carry the full event live.
Heading into the contests, Trump remains the national front-runner, followed closely by Cruz.
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The Weekly Standard picked up this story from The Federalist, adding that Trump only gave around $57,000 to veterans’ groups between 2009 to 2013.
