No sooner had the first Republican presidential debate ended Wednesday night that reports surfaced from Milwaukee of the banishment of Donald Trump Jr. and Kimberly Guifoyle. The pair were allegedly blocked from the post-debate spin room by decree from Fox News.
A revealing video showed the president’s son on the scene explaining that he’d been stopped from participating in the discussion.
Trump Jr. said that Fox News “trying to ban people from actually having discourse about politics probably shouldn’t surprise any of us, but that’s what it is.
Fox News is trying to censor and silence Trump supporters to protect their hand-picked establishment candidates.
That's a big reason why their ratings are dying, while my father's interview with Tucker Carlson is already at 93 million views!!! https://t.co/Qf4LI63BiB
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) August 24, 2023
The network action came just a day after the 2024 GOP frontrunner confirmed that he would not participate in the debate.
The former president’s son clarified that a building security member informed him that the network banned both he and Guilfoyle from the spin room. He blasted Fox for attempting to boost other candidates who may have stumbled under the primetime lights.
Trump Jr. declared the network had been “trying to cut down Trump for the last, what, two years.”
Fox News claimed that the ban applied to all candidates who did not qualify for the debate. Trump, of course, easily passed the thresholds set by organizers.
Some would argue, however, that he fell short by refusing to sign the RNC’s loyalty pledge.
The network left the possibility open for its “guests” to appear, but apparently Trump Jr. and Guilfoyle were not worthy of this distinction.
The ex-president’s son told the media Monday that he would be at the debate as a surrogate for his father. The Daily Caller reported that Kimberly Guilfoyle, his fiance, was expected to run media for the elder Trump.
Several other prominent Trump supporters were expected to attend the Fox News event. Among them were Arizona Republican Kari Lake along with Reps. Byron Donalds (R-FL) and Matt Gaetz (R-FL).
Guilfoyle, who is an attorney, described Fox banning her and her fiance as “very un-American. It’s against the First Amendment.”
Don Jr. also spoke out against being barred from the spin room. He called it as oppressive as his father and 18 of his associates being persecuted in Georgia by a rogue district attorney.
The former president is also under a gag order from a Washington, D.C. judge.
