Donald Trump has decided to skip the Fox News Republican debate on Thursday, January 28, and will instead hold his own competing event in Iowa. It has been billed as a “charity event” to raise money for veterans groups and will likely air on C-SPAN and CNN the same time as the primetime GOP debate over on the Fox News Channel. In the interests of disseminating the information, here is a live stream of the event and more details.
Here is a live stream of Trump’s event from YouTube which will begin at 8pm ET (7pm CT, 6pm MT, 5pm PT) on Thursday evening:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q_xNfp97Ic4
C-SPAN will also be broadcasting the event live on cable and their website. The event details from C-SPAN are available here. I imagine that even if CNN doesn’t put the event on their guide listing, they will begin covering the Trump’s rally on Thursday when the main event starts at 9pm ET.
Report from Radio Iowa:
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is planning his own counter-programming to Thursday night’s Fox News debate.
“We’ll raise some money for the ‘Wounded Warriors’. We’ll raise money for the vets,” Trump told reporters in Marshalltown early this evening. “…I was all set to do the debate. I came here to do the debate. When they sent out the wise guy press releases a little while ago, done by some PR person, along with Roger Ailes, I said: ‘Bye, bye.’”
At the moment, there are very few details available other than that the event will take place at Drake University in Des Moines. There has been no official announcement of which network will air the event, though CNN seems like the most likely target and is a network Trump has mentioned in recent days.
Another report from the Quad City Times:
Donald Trump’s campaign has formally announced plans to host a special event at the same time as Thursday’s presidential debate.
The move follows the Republican front-runner’s promise to boycott the Fox News debate. He’s been upset with Fox over what he calls unfair treatment from debate moderator Megyn Kelly and a sarcastic tweet from the network.
The campaign issued an advisory Wednesday night with details for what it’s calling a special event.
Just as the prime-time debate begins Thursday at 9 p.m. EST, Trump is scheduled to appear at Drake University in Des Moines at an event the campaign says will benefit veterans.
The appearance will be just two miles from where his Republican rivals gather for the debate.
Honestly this is one of the most interesting election cycles in my recent memory. Donald Trump has a way of capturing the media spotlight, especially when his dominance is being threatened by another candidate.
Update
Mike Huckabee will appear in the Fox News undercard debate during the 7pm hour, then head across town and join Donald Trump for his rally in primetime. Report from The Hill:
Mike Huckabee will attend Donald Trump’s pro-veterans event on Thursday at the same time as Fox News’s GOP debate.
Hogan Gidley, a Huckabee spokesman, told The Hill that the former Arkansas governor will still participate in Thursday’s undercard debate, but will head to the Trump event after it ends.
The undercard debate begins at 7 p.m. EST, two hours before Trump’s event is slated to start just three miles down the road.
If I had to guess, I’d bet Huckabee won’t be the only one making an appearance at Trump’s event. Rick Santorum is rumored as well, possibly some others.
