Trump Campaign Manager: Let O’Reilly Do Debate

Donald Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski suggested Wednesday that Fox News personality Bill O’Reilly be a moderator for Thursday night’s Republican debate on Fox.

Appearing on “The Laura Ingraham Show,” Lewandowski also called Ted Cruz’s proposed one-on-one debate a “great idea” — if the Texas senator is the last opponent standing.

Amid a long-running dispute with Fox News host Megyn Kelly, Trump announced Tuesday that he will not participate in Thursday’s debate and will, instead, hold a separate event to raise money for veterans. Kelly is set to be one of three moderators at the Fox debate.

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Lewandowski said Trump is not afraid of tough questions, but wants to be treated fairly. He noted that Trump has regularly been in O’Reilly’s hot seat at Fox.

“Maybe Bill O’Reilly should be the moderator of one these debates,” Lewandowski said. “He asks tough questions. He’s on with Mr. Trump on a regular basis. You know, put Bill O’Reilly up there to ask those tough questions.”

Cruz, who blasted Trump’s decision to skip Thursday’s encounter, has challenged Trump to a one-on-one debate with no moderators.

“It’s a great idea, and should Ted Cruz be able to withstand the rigors of this campaign, and he’s the last standing in second place behind Donald Trump when we get to the end of this campaign, he’ll have his opportunity to have that debate one on one,” Lewandowski responded.

Lewandowski said Trump’s decision was not about Kelly, who has been a frequent target since the first GOP debate in August when the real estate mogul said she asked him unfair, gotcha questions. Lewandowski said Trump also believes the cable channel unfairly trolled him with an unsolicited statement.

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He agreed that Fox has the right to choose its own moderators.

“That’s their prerogative,” he said. “But it’s our prerogative as the GOP’s front-running candidate — by far — in every poll in Iowa and nationwide to choose to participate or not.”

Lewandowski predicted the network’s ratings will be only a 20th of the size without the front-runner.

“Without Trump on that stage, you’re going to go from potentially 20 or 25 million viewers to a million viewers,” he said. “Because the American people don’t want to see a bunch of all-talk, no-action politicians sit up on the debate stage and talk about things that we’ll never change because there’s only one clear leader in this race, Donald Trump, and if he’s not on that debate stage, no one’s going to tune it. Fox knows it.”

A man who will be on the main debate state Thursday, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, said during a separate appearance on “The Laura Ingraham Show” that his decision to skip the previous debate is not at all like Trump’s move. Paul said he boycotted the debate because he had been relegated to the junior varsity session. Trump, meanwhile, is missing the only real debate.

“I don’t think he’s added much to the debate,” he said. “I think he’s distracted from real debate. I think most of what he’s said has been empty blather.”