Associated Press
Here are the latest developments from the 2016 race for president, one week out from the Iowa caucuses. All times local.
6:20 p.m.
Donald Trump‘s campaign manager says Trump is skipping the next Republican debate.
Trump previously had said he may not show up. But campaign manager Corey Lewandowski said during a Tuesday evening news conference in Marshalltown, Iowa, that the GOP front-runner “will not be participating in the Fox News debate Thursday.”
Trump has criticized Fox News for “playing games” and for including anchor Megyn Kelly as a debate moderator. He says Kelly is a third-rate reporter who is bad at her job and shouldn’t be allowed to participate.
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5:40 p.m.
Donald Trump says he probably will not participate in the next Republican presidential debate.
The Republican candidates are set to square off in the Fox News debate Thursday night, their last debate before Monday’s Iowa caucuses.
But Trump told a Tuesday news conference he most likely won’t show up.
Trump is criticizing Fox News for “playing games” and for including anchor Megyn Kelly as a debate moderator. He says Kelly is a third-rate reporter who is bad at her job and shouldn’t be allowed to participate.
Trump says Fox will make a fortune off the debate and that he asked the network to donate to wounded veterans groups.
Instead of the debate, Trump says he will probably hold his own event in Iowa for wounded veterans.
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5:35 p.m.
New Hampshire’s largest newspaper is teaming up with MSNBC to host a final Democratic debate in the state before the Feb. 9 primary. But the two major candidates — Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton — have yet to say whether they’ll participate.
The Democratic National Committee has not commented on the proposed debate, to be held in New Hampshire on Feb. 4. The party sanctioned six primary debates and previously threatened to punish any candidates for participating in non-sanctioned debates.
So far only Martin O’Malley says he’ll participate.
Union Leader Editor Trent Spiner says the debate comes in response to “overwhelming” calls from New Hampshire residents for another opportunity to evaluate the candidates side by side.
More than 100 prominent New Hampshire Democrats formed a group last year to push for more debates in the state. The only New Hampshire debate was held before Christmas.
Spiner says MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow and Chuck Todd will moderate the debate alongside a local reporter.
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5:05 p.m.
Texas Sen. Ted Cruz says he won’t attack Republican rival Donald Trump. But Cruz’s surrogates aren’t making the same pledge.
Christian conservative activist Bob Vander Plaats exchanged a series of testy messages with Trump over Twitter on Tuesday. And at a Cruz rally in Ottumwa, Iowa, Vander Plaats bashed Trump for describing his supporters as so loyal that he could “shoot somebody” and not lose support, and for saying in a previous interview that he had never sought forgiveness from God.
Cruz backer and Iowa U.S. Rep. Steve King is meanwhile telling voters that the race in his state has come down to either Cruz or Trump.
King told voters gathered at a historic church in Bloomfield, Iowa, that they don’t know what Trump’s “core beliefs are” and they “don’t know what he’ll do tomorrow.”
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4:20 p.m.
An Arizona sheriff known far beyond his home state for his efforts to crack down on illegal immigration has joined Donald Trump on the campaign trail in Iowa.
Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio appeared with the Republican candidate at a Tuesday rally as Trump’s campaign touted the sheriff’s support.
Trump’s immigration policy proposals include building a wall across the entirety of the U.S.-Mexico border and deporting everyone who lives in the U.S. illegally.
Republished with permission of the Associated Press.
