UPDATE: Jan. 28, 2015, 1:31 PM ET
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee will attend Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump’s rival event to Thursday night’s Fox News debate, and ex-Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) said he is also open to attending.
Huckabee confirmed the news, which was first reported by CNN, on Twitter, saying he would still attend Fox’s undercard debate, which is scheduled for 7 p.m. ET. Trump’s event at Drake University is slated to start at 8 p.m. ET.
After the #GOPDebate I’ll join @realDonaldTrump in Des Moines to support our vets who’ve been abandoned by @BarackObama. Hope you join us!
— Gov. Mike Huckabee (@GovMikeHuckabee) January 28, 2016
But Huckabee said in an interview on CNN that his appearance should not be misconstrued as an endorsement for the real estate mogul.
“It’s not an endorsement of Donald Trump’s candidacy. I’m still running for president. We have the caucus since Monday night,” he said. “I’m delighted to join Donald Trump in an effort to salute veterans. And you know what, I didn’t have anything going on at 8 p.m. tonight.”
Santorum, who is also competing in the undercard debate, told CNN he was open to attending Trump’s event if invited.
“As of now, the senator has not been invited to take part in Mr. Trump’s event,” a Santorum spokesman told the network. “The senator respects that this is Mr. Trump’s event and he’s not going to go and crash (it).”
Trump announced the event after saying he would boycott the Fox News debate, and claimed Thursday that two unnamed candidates had called him for invites.
