Trump hits Fox, Baier ahead of debate

Former President Trump took a swipe Wednesday at Fox News and anchor Bret Baier less than two hours before the network was set to air a Republican presidential primary debate that Trump is skipping.

Trump, in a post on Truth Social, complained about the network’s coverage of GOP primary polls and attacked Baier, who is co-moderating the debate, as a “RINO,” or Republican in Name Only. Trump sat for a one-on-one interview with Baier in June.

The former president claimed he was leading President Biden in “almost all polls,” though a RealClearPolitics collection of recent polls of a hypothetical 2024 rematch between the two men showed Biden leading narrowly in recent surveys conducted by Yahoo News, Morning Consult, Fox News and Quinnipiac, while the two are tied in a recent Emerson poll.

Trump also boasted that he was “leading Republicans by 50 points.” Recent polling has shown Trump ahead of the rest of the field by at least 40 points.

“FOX NEWS REFUSES TO POST OR DISCUSS,” Trump wrote.

The former president will not attend Wednesday’s debate, the first of the primary cycle. He instead sat for an interview with ex-Fox News host Tucker Carlson that will be published on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, just before the debate starts.

Trump has repeatedly been critical of Fox’s coverage of the GOP primary, complaining about the network’s coverage of some of his rivals, though he has conducted multiple town halls with Fox opinion host Sean Hannity.