Donald Trump’s campaign manager said Wednesday that Fox News host Megyn Kelly is “totally obsessed” with the GOP presidential hopeful and has advocated for keeping him off TV.
Campaign manager Corey Lewandowski said in a phone interview with MSNBC’s “Morning Joe” that Fox News wouldn’t attract high ratings for its Thursday debate without Trump, who announced late Tuesday that he would not participate.
“You know, what we know is Megyn Kelly is totally obsessed with Mr. Trump,” Lewandowski said. “She’s on show after show about why the media shouldn’t be having him on television.”
Lewandowski said Trump “wasn’t going to be toyed with” and had decided to not participate in the debate after Fox News issued a tongue-in-cheek statement responding to his concern that Kelly would treat him “unfairly.”
“It’s very hard to appear with someone, a network, which is going to be as biased as they have been against him,” Lewandowski said. “As soon as they put that press release out it was clearly a statement which, you know, they did it just to get his attention.”
Trump has said that he’ll host an event on Thursday to fundraise for wounded veterans instead of debating. Lewandowski said it’s “very possible” that other candidates also may participate in Trump’s event.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) has challenged Trump to a “mano-a-mano,” but Lewandowski said that Cruz is “not the only one.”
“We’ve had calls from many of the candidates now who say, ‘why would we participate in the Fox debate as well,’” Lewandowski said.
