Donald Trump Jr., the former president’s eldest son, accused Fox News of trying to “silence” Trump supporters by blocking his access to the spin room at the first Republican primary debate.
“Fox News is trying to censor and silence Trump supporters to protect their hand-picked establishment candidates,” Trump Jr. wrote in a social media post late Wednesday, accompanied by video showing him speaking to reporters after the debate.
Former President Trump did not attend Wednesday night’s debate, which was hosted by and aired on Fox, citing his large lead in most primary polls and what he has repeatedly described as “hostile” coverage he has received from the network.
As a result, Trump’s surrogates did not receive credentials to the “spin room” through Fox.
In a memo obtained by The Hill this week, the network informed campaigns that only surrogates of candidates who attend the debate will receive a credential through the outlet to the spin room. The same memo noted that any surrogates from “a nonparticipating candidate or campaign is welcome in the Spin Room or Media Row as a guest of one of the media organizations with positions in those locations, using one of their credentials.”
Reporters in the spin room separately Wednesday posted photos online of a flier circulating amongst security at the venue displaying photos of top Trump aides and noting they were barred from attending the debate. Trump Jr. was not amongst the people listed on the flier.
“This paper was designed and printed by the Fiserv Forum security team as a guide for candidate walk throughs that took place yesterday,” the network said in a statement to The Hill on Wednesday evening. “Fox News Media was not involved with the production of the document and did not sanction any of the language used.”
Several other Trump surrogates were nonetheless able to gain access to the spin room, according to reports on the ground in Milwaukee.
Trump Jr. has also been critical of Fox for months, accusing the network of trying to tear his father down in favor of other GOP candidates. The former president’s son traveled to Milwaukee this week to participate in a number of media interviews boosting his father, including on Rumble, the streaming service popular with conservatives.
Fox, the top-watched cable channel, featured a number of pro-Trump commentators in the weeks leading up to the debate, and multiple reports surfaced laying out efforts by top hosts and executives at Fox to lobby Trump to attend the first GOP debate.
Trump rebuffed those overtures, instead sitting for an interview with former Fox host Tucker Carlson, whom the network pulled off the air in April just days after it settled defamation claims brought by Dominion Voting Systems in connection with false statements about voter fraud made on its air being promoted by Trump and his allies.