Trump called out by Republican rivals after Fox News picks telling date for town hall event

Des Moines, Iowa - Former President Donald Trump will be doing a town hall event with Fox News on the same night the next GOP debate is scheduled to air on CNN, and his rivals are not happy about it.

On Tuesday, Fox News announced they will be hosting a town hall event with Donald Trump (r.) on the same night CNN will host the fifth Republican debates, featuring Ron DeSantis (l.) and Nikki Haley.
On Tuesday, Fox News announced they will be hosting a town hall event with Donald Trump (r.) on the same night CNN will host the fifth Republican debates, featuring Ron DeSantis (l.) and Nikki Haley.  © Collage: Almond NGAN, Joseph Prezioso, & JIM WATSON / AFP

Fox News Channel announced the event on Tuesday, which will be held on January 10, and co-hosted by anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum.

That same night, CNN will be hosting a non-party sanctioned GOP debate, which Trump has qualified for, alongside Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and former South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, but is refusing to attend.

Trump has passed on participating in four previous debates that took place last year, instead choosing to do counterprogramming to compete for viewership.

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CNN's upcoming event will be the first debate not sanctioned by the Republican National Committee, which announced last month that they will no longer hold the events, but will allow candidates to participate in non-sanctioned events.

The debates have helped some candidates gain more support, most notably Haley, who has gained large bumps in state polls across the nation, with some placing her in second place.

Republican candidates react to Fox New's announcement

Vivek Ramaswamy, who didn't qualify for CNN's debate, announced his own live event for January 10.
Vivek Ramaswamy, who didn't qualify for CNN's debate, announced his own live event for January 10.  © REUTERS

Following the announcement, Haley called out Trump on social media, quipping that it's "getting harder for Donald Trump to hide" as the "debate stage continues to shrink."

The campaign for Ron DeSantis also released a statement, arguing that Trump is "scared" to debate him because "he'd have to finally explain why he didn't build the wall, added nearly $8 trillion to the debt, and turned the country over to Fauci."

Vivek Ramaswamy, who didn't meet CNN's qualification of having at least 10% in three separate national and/or Iowa polls, predicted that it will be the "most boring in modern history," and announced he will be hosting his own live audience show that same night.

Both CNN and Fox News' events scheduled to air at 9 PM EST on Wednesday, January 10, only a few days from the Iowa caucuses on January 15.

Cover photo: Collage: Almond NGAN, Joseph Prezioso, & JIM WATSON / AFP

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