Donald Trump said he plans on participating in the next Fox News GOP debate, even though network star Megyn Kelly is scheduled to moderate.
“I’ll be there. I have no objection to being there,” the Republican presidential candidate said on Newsmax’s “The Steve Malzberg Show” when asked whether he will be skipping the upcoming March 3 debate in Detroit as he did last week’s showdown in Iowa.
Trump caused a firestorm of controversy when he pulled out of the Des Moines debate, a move many attributed to his ongoing feud with “The Kelly File” host. But the billionaire denied that that Kelly was the reason for his withdrawal from the debate.
“That had nothing to do with Megyn Kelly, the fact that I went out of the last one. It had to do with a memo that was sent out by Fox that was a little bit taunting and I said it was inappropriate.”
However, Kelly appeared on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” on Thursday night with a conflicting account of the situation.
“He said it was about me, and then he said it was about a statement my boss [Roger Ailes] put out, and then he said is was about a gum wrapper on the floor,” the host of “The Kelly File” said flippantly. “There were a lot of reasons that he gave, so I don’t know exactly why he didn’t show up.”
After tweeting that Kelly should not be allowed to moderate the Iowa debate based on her unfair treatment of him during a previous debate, Trump announced he wouldn’t be participating in the Republican scrum. Fox News responded by issuing a statement that said, “We learned from a secret back channel that the Ayatollah and Putin both intend to treat Donald Trump unfairly when they meet with him if he becomes president.”
The Trump campaign shot back with a statement that read, “Unlike the very stupid, highly incompetent people running our country into the ground, Mr. Trump knows when to walk away. Roger Ailes and FOX News think they can toy with him, but Mr. Trump doesn’t play games.”