Former President Donald Trump was reportedly pressed to participate in the first Republican primary debate later this month.
The former President reportedly had a private “cordial” dinner with top Fox News president Jay Wallace and the network’s chief executive Suzanne Scott on Tuesday evening, according to three people familiar with the event per the New York Times.
The dinner was held prior to the former President’s Tuesday federal indictment at Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, New Jersey.
Wallace and Scott reportedly appealed to Trump’s insistence he would not attend the upcoming Republican primary debate, which will be hosted by the outlet on Aug. 23 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. The Fox News executives also reportedly praised Trump’s presence center stage, adding the debate presented an opportunity for the former president to showcase his debate skills.
Trump insisted he had not made his decision, though would keep an open mind about attending.
New: Shortly after learning he was being indicted a third time, former President Donald J. Trump had a private dinner with the top leadership at Fox News as they lobbied him to attend the first GOP presidential primary debate this month. w @maggieNYT https://t.co/a0n4W7myLb
— Jonathan Swan (@jonathanvswan) August 2, 2023
Fox News host Sean Hannity was tentatively scheduled to attend the dinner, though was unable to because the dinner conflicted with his show’s 9 p.m. time slot on the network.
One of Trump’s spokesmen, Steven Cheung, reportedly declined to comment on the dinner saying, “I won’t discuss a private meeting.”
Fox News spokeswoman Irena Briganti also reportedly declined to comment on the dinner.
Most recently, Trump suggested he will not attend the upcoming debate, posting to Truth Social, “Let them debate so I can see who I MIGHT consider for Vice President!”
In a June 26 Truth Social post, the former president commented on his polling in regards to attending the August debate.
“So FoxNews, which is down 37% in the Ratings, doesn’t cover my getting the ‘Man of the Decade’ Award (because of my great trade policies!) in Michigan, or my Keynote Speech for Faith & Freedom in D.C., and then wants me to show up and get them ratings for their ‘Presidential’ Debate, where I’m leading the field by 40 points,” Trump wrote in a June 26 Truth Social post. “All they do is promote, against all hope, Ron DeSanctimonious, and he’s dropping like a rock. Sorry FoxNews, life doesn’t work that way!!!”
Trump also commented on former presidential candidates not participating in debates during an interview with Fox News’ Sunday Morning Futures.
“You’re leading people by 50 and 60 points, you say why would you be doing a debate?” he said. “It’s actually not fair. Why would you let somebody that’s at zero or one or two or three be popping you with questions?”
“Ronald Reagan didn’t do it and a lot of other people didn’t do it. When you have a big lead, you don’t do it. We have a lead of 50 and 60 points in some cases,” Trump said, per Politico. “I haven’t really made up my mind.”
