Ted Cruz offered to donate $1.5 million to veterans’ charities if Trump debated their candidate. VoteVets.org, a pro-veterans group with a liberal agenda, said in a statement: “Don’t hide from Megyn Kelly behind us”.
Advertisement
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio struck an aggressive posture, pledging that as president, he would go after terrorists “wherever they are”.
Several leading veterans activists and supporters denounced Donald Trump’s hastily arranged fundraiser for veterans in Iowa on Thursday night as a “political ploy”.
“We’ve had other voters that love what I’m doing because they don’t want to be pushed around by the establishment”, said Trump, who is planning to participate in the next debate in New Hampshire.
The GOP presidential front-runner threw an unexpected curveball into the 2016 campaign this week when he declared that he would boycott the debate sponsored by Fox News amid an escalating feud with the network.
On Trump’s website to solicit funds for veterans a disclosure at the bottom indicates that donations go directly to the Donald J. Trump Foundation, a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization.
Mike Huckabee and Rick Santorum, Iowa caucus winners in the past who have struggled to gain traction in the 2016 campaign, planned to join Trump at the event after appearing in an earlier undercard debate. CNN and MSNBC will be covering Trump’s event during their regular shows.
“I think it’s stunning Donald has refused to do it”, Cruz told Fox News. But his absence did give his rivals more time to make their case to voters.
The Kentucky senator said Trump’s decision to ditch Thursday’s Fox News Debate is very different from his own decision to not participate in a recent GOP debate.
Iowa fast-food workers calling for $15-an-hour wages say they’ll stage a day of demonstrations ahead of the Republican presidential debate. His campaign insisted that debate host Fox News crossed a line with a sarcastic statement mocking him and continued to criticize moderator Megyn Kelly.
Advertisement
The seventh Republican presidential debate will play out on Thursday evening at the Iowa Events Center in Des Moines, Iowa, on Fox News Channel. Trump has been feuding with Kelly and Fox since the Republicans’ August debate, when Kelly asked Trump about derogatory comments he’s made about women.
