Kimberly Guilfoyle and Don Jr to attend first Republican debate in Trump’s absence as candidates prepare to clash in Milwaukee

Kimberly Guilfoyle and Donald Trump Jr. will attend the first Republican debate in Milwaukee on Wednesday to campaign for the absentee Donald Trump.

A spokesperson for the couple confirmed to DailyMail.com that they will be at the event. It’s unclear if they’ll be in the audience, but the two will speak to the media before and after the debate.

Donald Trump announced on Sunday that he would not attend either the first or second Republican primary debate — both sponsored by Fox News — despite qualifying for the event and leading the polls for the GOP presidential nomination.

A Republican debate sign is in place outside the Fiserv forum in preparation for the August 24 debate in Milwaukee

The former president, instead, will speak online to Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News anchor who is still under contract and paid by Fox despite his show being axed.

The interview would have already been recorded.

Trump will have plenty of surrogates on the ground in Milwaukee to speak for him.

In addition to eldest son Don Jr and fiancé Guilfoyle, as The Daily Caller first reported, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene and Kari Lake will speak on behalf of the former president.

Don Jr and Guilfoyle have long supported the former president. They have been at his side in his legal woes and were at Mar-a-Lago in April, sitting in the front row, when Donald Trump refuted the charges against him.

Even though Donald Trump has said he won’t be on the debate stage, his presence will be felt.

Moderators Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum said they plan to ask the other candidates about the multiple charges the former president faces.

“The reaction of other candidates will be interesting,” said Baier, the network’s top political anchor and Special Report anchor and editor.

“In the GOP primary, we saw these indictments increase its poll numbers, increase its fundraising,” Baier said. Deadline. “How others react to it and how they approach it differently will be part of this primary and this debate.”

Former President Donald Trump (left) does not plan to attend the first Republican primary debate and will likely sit down for an online interview with former Fox News Channel host Tucker Carlson (right) instead .

Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (seen above earlier this year at a Trump rally) will also be in Milwaukee to defend Donald Trump

Don Jr and Kimberly Guilfoyle have long supported the former president – they stand front row (centre) at Mar-a-Lago in April with Melania’s father Victor Knavs, Tiffany Trump and her husband Michael Boulos

The final slate for the debate stage will be set Monday evening so that Trump still has time to change his mind.

But he argued he didn’t need to be next to the other Republican presidential nominees who were trailing him heavily in the polls.

“A lot of people ask me whether or not I will do the DEBATES?” he posted to Truth Social Friday. “People know my record, one of the best of all time, so why should I argue?” I AM YOUR MAN. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN! »

If Trump counterschedules the debate by appearing with Carlson, it would spark an epic battle for viewers in the first major event of the primary season.

In response, the Fox team is considering incorporating music videos of Trump into their 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 interfering with the state’s 2020 election results. He also faces federal charges in two cases – one over classified documents in his possession and the another on election interference – as well as accusations in New York related to paying silent money to porn star Stormy Daniels

Meanwhile, Republican hopefuls for the 2024 race are gearing up for the GOP presidential primary debate at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on Wednesday.

The other qualified candidates are Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy, Mike Pence, Chris Christie, Nikki Haley, Tim Scott and Doug Burgum. Asa Hutchinson, Francis Suarez and Perry Johnson have claimed to qualify, but the Republican National Committee has not confirmed that they meet all the conditions.

To participate in the debate, candidates must meet a donor threshold (40,000 individual contributors, including 200 each from 20 states) and a polling threshold (at least 1% support in three national qualifying polls, or two national qualifying polls). qualification plus qualifying polls from two early voting states: Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina). They must also sign a pledge to support the eventual Republican candidate, whoever it is.