Donald Trump said at a campaign rally Monday in Iowa that he and Fox News are “friends again,” after the real estate mogul skipped the network’s Republican presidential debate last week.
Trump declined to participate in the Thursday debate after Fox News released a scathing statement in response to the billionaire’s critiques of debate moderator Megyn Kelly. He decided to hold his own event to benefit veterans that same night.
Trump said Monday that he wanted to do the debate “so badly,” but his own campaign event was so successful that he was unable to participate. He then called the network very nice and said they were “friends again.”
But he just couldn’t resist saying that his presence would’ve boosted the debate’s ratings.
“We could’ve broken that record,” Trump said. “At that rally, we raised—in one hour—we raised $6 million.”
Fox News had said in a statement Thursday night that Trump offered to appear at the debate in exchange for the network donating $5 million to his charities. The network said it turned down that “quid pro quo.”
