Former President Donald Trump is seeking to take attention away from the GOP presidential primary debate by surrendering in his Fulton County indictment, according to Fox News anchor Bret Baier.
Baier, one of the moderators of the debate, shared the concern during a radio interview this week.
Trump wants to suck ‘oxygen’ from debate with Thursday surrender: Baierhttps://t.co/MgMuIjqVAQ
— 🎄🎄🗻The Fishy One✌️😎🐟🎣🚣♂️🗻🎄🎄 (@BillEaster10) August 22, 2023
“I think there has to be some planning,” said Baier during Hugh Hewitt's radio program.
“I mean, I think it is about sucking the oxygen out of the room for anybody who had a big night on Wednesday making the rounds on Thursday," he added. It’s not a great counter-programming thing, but I do think it is calculated."
Donald Trump to surrender at Fulton county jail on Thursday night https://t.co/fYGGTyQAmi
— The Guardian (@guardian) August 22, 2023
"The former president – seeking to distract from the indignity of the surrender by turning things into a circus – in essence had his lawyers negotiate the booking to take place during the prime viewing hours for the cable news networks," the Guardian reported.
"Trump has posted on his Truth Social platform that he would be arrested on Thursday, but the prime-time scheduling was finalized in recent days after his lawyers met with the Fulton County district attorney, Fani Willis, at her office on Monday," it added.
The surrender is part of Trump's fourth indictment, this time including 18 co-defendants in charges related to 2020 election interference.
Trump's surrender is expected to include fingerprinting and a possible mug shot in what would be a first for a former American president.
The indictment is in addition to other cases facing the former president in Washington over Jan. 6, 2021, and a Florida case involving classified documents found in his Florida home during an FBI raid last year.
The debate should be of great interest to Americans but much of the attention will likely be on Trump and his indictment despite his absence at the event.
