Trump Refuses to Commit to Debate Appearance On ‘Hostile’ Fox News

Part one of Donald Trump’s two-night interview with Fox Host Bret Baier likely left the lawyers trying to keep him out of prison reeling, and part two may have put his campaign staff in similar straits.

When asked by Baier if he would appear during the first Republican primary debate, which will be hosted by Fox News in August, Trump responded that he had concerns about appearing on a “hostile network.”

“This is a fair interview but it’s hostile. It’s on the hostile side,” Trump added. “Why would I allow people [polling] at one and two percent, and zero percent to be hitting me with questions all night.”

Trump also hedged on a question from Baier regarding whether or not he believed the Covid-19 vaccines to be effective. Despite taking credit for the rapid development of the vaccines, Trump said that he avoided discussing his position on vaccines because “as a Republican, it’s not a great thing to talk about because, for some reason, it’s just not.”

Vaccine skepticism has become an embedded conspiracy within Republican politics. In a follow up question, Baier asked why Trump hadn’t fired Dr. Anthony Fauci, who’s become the subject of relentless attacks from the right. The former president claimed he was not “allowed” to dismiss him.

On Monday night, Trump all but confessed to Baier that he had taken classified documents from the White House, adding that he hesitated to give them back because the boxes they were in were full of his much beloved golf shirts.

Trump also attempted to dismiss a recording obtained by the Justice Department that allegedly demonstrates he showed some of the materials he retained to third parties — by claiming there was no document to speak of.

“Bret, there was no document,” Trump told Baier. “That was a massive amount of papers and everything else, talking about Iran and other things. And it may have been held up or may not. That was not a document. I didn’t have any document per se. There was nothing to declassify, these were newspaper stories, magazine stories, and articles.”

The former president also reiterated his unsubstantiated claims that the 2020 election had been stolen from him. Trump emphatically declared to Baier that he “won in 2020 by a lot, let’s get that straight.”

“They were counting ballots, not the authenticity of the ballot. The ballots were fake ballots, this was a very rigged election,” he added.

At the end of the interview on Tuesday, Baier asked the former president if he felt he had been “fairly treated” during their conversation. “I don’t know,” Trump responded. “A couple questions could have been done without that’s okay. I enjoyed it.”

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