Donald Trump promised during a Friday Newsmax interview to show up at Fox News’ next Republican presidential debate, despite his on-and-off feud with the network and debate moderator Megyn Kelly.
“I’ll be there,” Trump told host Steve Malzberg. “I have no objection to being there. And that had nothing to do with Megyn Kelly, the fact that I went out on that last one. It had to do with a memo sent out by Fox that was a little taunting.”
This response was much firmer than the one he offered up at a New Hampshire press conference Wednesday. Asked if he’d appear at Fox’s March 3 debate, the GOP candidate replied, “We’ll see.”
Trump blew off the last Fox debate—held just days before the Iowa caucuses—after the network released a statement mocking him for his unwillingness to face moderator Kelly’s questions.
He instead held a fundraiser in support of U.S. veterans at the exact same time as the Fox debate. Though Trump has since admitted that skipping out on the debate may have cost him votes in the Iowa caucuses, where he came in second place, he said on Newsmax that he “did the right thing” by raising money for veterans instead.
Kelly appeared on “The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon” Thursday to share her side of the story. Though she directed tough questions at the real estate mogul during the first Republican presidential debate in August, she said that she didn’t treat Trump any more harshly than the other candidates.
“That opening round of the first debate in particular was all about electability, so we were trying to get to what’s your weak spot, what’s going to prevent you from getting the nomination, what’s going to prevent you from beating Hillary who is going to be the likely Democratic nominee?” Kelly said. “And that’s where I was going with him, but you know all of those guys kinda got it right in the kisser.”
Though Trump is now attributing his decision to skip the last Fox debate exclusively to the network’s statement, he took several shots at Kelly in the run-up to the debate, dismissing her as a “third-rate reporter” and retweeting posts from supporters calling her a “bimbo.”
Watch his Newsmax interview below:
