Several Donald Trump surrogates dismissed the notion that Gennifer Flowers will attend the first presidential debate as a guest of the campaign.
After Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton suggested billionaire Mark Cuban, who has been a vocal critic of Mr. Trump, would attend the debate, Mr. Trump countered by appearing to extend an invitation to Ms. Flowers, who had an extramarital affair with former President Bill Clinton while he was governor of Arkansas.
But campaign manager Kellyanne Conway put down that idea on Sunday, saying the Clinton campaign got “baited” by the suggestion.
“Mr. Trump was putting them on notice that we can certainly invite guests that may get into the head of Hillary Clinton,” Ms. Conway said on CNN’s “State of the Union.” “But we have not invited her formally, and we don’t expect her to be a guest of the Trump campaign.”
And Mr. Trump’s running mate, Indiana Governor Mike Pence, underscored that point, saying Ms. Flowers “will not be attending the debate tomorrow night.”
“Hillary Clinton apparently thinks this is an episode of ’Shark Tank,’ but this is America,” Mr. Pence said on “Fox News Sunday,” referring to the TV show on which Mr. Cuban stars.
SEE ALSO: Donald Trump threatens to bring Gennifer Flowers to debate
Mr. Cuban last week said he accepted an invitation from the Clinton campaign to attend the presidential debate, prompting Mr. Trump to tweet that if “dopey Mark Cuban of failed Benefactor fame wants to sit in the front row, perhaps I will put Gennifer Flowers right alongside of him!”
Ms. Flowers appeared to take him up on the offer.
“Hi Donald. You know I’m in your corner and will definitely be at the debate!” she said in a tweet on Saturday.
• Bradford Richardson can be reached at brichardson@washingtontimes.com.
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