Ron DeSantis on Thursday told Iowa voters that conservative media, including Fox News, is too easy on former President Donald Trump.
In a clip posted to his “Never Back Down” campaign account on X, DeSantis said “all these conservative radio guys and Fox News people like, you know, they will like never criticize because they’re so concerned that someone may yell at them.”
DeSantis said that Trump’s conflicting stances on abortion rights are “not consistent with the values here in northwest Iowa.” He added, “Look, anyone running for office answers to you, you have every right to hold these people accountable and you should hold him accountable.”
Watch the clip above.
Fox News remains allied with Trump, who will be featured in a live town hall event Jan. 10, rather than participate in CNN’s Republican debate being held the same night.
CNN’s debate will feature only GOP candidates DeSantis and Nikki Haley, who are both 30 points behind Trump in the polls, the New York Times reported earlier this week.
The conservative news network will, however, host town halls for Nikki Haley and DeSantis on, respectively, Jan. 8 and Jan. 9.
Chris Christie has also made critiquing Trump a key part of his campaign. However, on Wednesday, he told “The View” hosts that he believes removing Trump from primary ballots is “bad politically.”
So far, Colorado and Maine have ruled that Trump, whose trials from the four 2023 indictments against him are set to begin soon, cannot appear on primary ballots in the 2024 presidential election.
On Thursday, groups of voters in Illinois and Massachusetts filed motions to remove Trump from their ballots as well.
The 2024 presidential primary will be held on March 5. His first trial date of March 4 has been shelved after he filed an appeal. However, his trial date for election interference is still set to begin on March 25 in New York.
