Kimberly Guilfoyle and Donald Trump Jr. will attend the first Republican debate in Milwaukee on Wednesday to campaign for the absent Donald Trump.
A spokesman for the couple confirmed to that they would be attending the event. It’s unclear if they will be in the audience, but the pair will speak to the media before and after the debate.
Donald Trump announced Sunday that he would not be participating in either the first or second Republican primary debates — both of which are sponsored by Fox News — despite qualifying for the event and standing in the polls for the GOP presidential nomination at the top.
Kimberly Guilfoyle and Donald Trump Jr. will attend the first Republican debate in Milwaukee on behalf of Donald Trump
A Republican Debate sign hangs outside the Fiserv Forum in preparation for the August 24 debate in Milwaukee
Instead, the former president will speak online with Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News host who is still under contract and paid by Fox even though his show was taken off the air.
According to reports, the interview was already recorded.
Trump will have many proxies on the ground in Milwaukee speaking on his behalf.
As first reported by the Daily Caller, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Kari Lake will speak for the former president, alongside his eldest son Don Jr. and his fiancé Guilfoyle.
Don Jr and Guilfoyle have long been supportive of the former president. They stood by him through his legal troubles and sat in the front row at Mar-a-Lago in April when Donald Trump denied the allegations against him.
Even though Donald Trump has stated that he will not be on the debate stage, his presence will be felt.
Moderators Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum have said they plan to quiz the other candidates on the numerous charges the former president is facing.
“It’ll be interesting to see how the other candidates react to that,” said Baier, the network’s chief political moderator and moderator and editor-in-chief of Special Report.
“In the GOP primary, we saw these charges increase his poll ratings and fundraising,” Baier told Deadline. “How others react to it and how differently they deal with it will be part of this primary and this debate.”
Former President Donald Trump (left) does not plan to participate in the first Republican primary debate and will instead likely sit down for an online interview with former Fox News Channel host Tucker Carlson (right).
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (seen above at a Trump rally earlier this year) will also be in Milwaukee to vote for Donald Trump
Don Jr and Kimberly Guilfoyle have long been supporters of the former president — and they’re front row (center) with Melania’s father Victor Knavs, Tiffany Trump and her husband Michael Boulos in Mar-a-Lago in April
The final timeline for the debate phase will be finalized Monday night, giving Trump time to change his mind.
But he has argued that he doesn’t need to stand alongside the other candidates for the Republican presidential nomination, who trail far behind him in the polls.
“A lot of people are asking if I’m going to join DEBATES or not?” he posted on Truth Social on Friday. “People know my record, one of the BEST of all time, so why should I debate?” I AM YOUR MAN. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!’
Should Trump actually create a counter-program to the debate by appearing alongside Carlson, it would result in an epic battle for viewers during the first major event of the primary season.
In response, the Fox team is considering including video clips of Trump in its debate questions, according to the New York Times.
Trump was indicted for the fourth time last week. This time, he faces charges in Georgia for interference in the state’s 2020 election results. He also faces two federal charges — one for possessing classified documents and one for election interference — and New York charges related to hush money payments to porn star Stormy Daniels
Meanwhile, Republican candidates for the 2024 race are preparing for Wednesday’s GOP presidency primary debate at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
The other contestants who qualified are Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy, Mike Pence, Chris Christie, Nikki Haley, Tim Scott and Doug Burgum. Asa Hutchinson, Francis Suarez and Perry Johnson have all claimed to qualify, but the Republican National Committee has not confirmed they have met all of the qualifications.
To participate in the debate, candidates must meet a donor threshold (40,000 unique contributors, including 200 each from 20 states) and a polling threshold (at least 1 percent support in three qualifying national polls, or two qualifying national polls plus qualifying polls from two states). with early voting: Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina). They must also sign a pledge of support for the eventual Republican nominee, whoever it may be.