Former Fox News personality Kimberly Guilfoyle has responded to disputed reports that her former employer is banning surrogates for GOP presidential candidates who do not appear on the debate stage Thursday from the network’s spin room.

Guilfoyle, who is engaged to Donald Trump Jr., made her remarks after her future father-in-law, former President Donald Trump, announced he would not be subjecting himself to the debate and will instead sit down with another former Fox News star, Tucker Carlson, for an interview that will air at the same time as the Fox debate.

She told Newsmax TV she and Trump Jr. will be at the debate forum, which Fox News is moderating and which will be held in Milwaukee, Wis.

“I think, unfortunately, for a media company that I used to work for, you would expect better,” she said. “But this is just really pathetic messaging. They’re just stepping out on themselves here. It’s backfiring spectacularly. It’s taking distraction away from the focus on the debate.”

“And I’d just like to see somebody try to stop Don Jr. and me from going someplace,” Guilfoyle added.

Kimberly Guilfoyle says that they will be looking at the debate to “check out and vet any potential cabinet picks or vp nominees” pic.twitter.com/mZlvlfQBrB

— Acyn (@Acyn) August 22, 2023

Meanwhile, Fox News host Bret Baier, who will co-moderate the debate with Martha MacCallum, told Hugh Hewitt that Trump’s surrogates have not been “blocked” from the spin room. At the same time, his explanation was full of caveats.

“I do want to say one other thing about, there’s all these stories out there about surrogates, Trump surrogates, and how they’re not being allowed into the debate,” Baier said. “That’s not the case at all. It’s, if they get invited to the debate, first of all, the RNC handles all the tickets. If they are an elected official, they get a ticket no matter what.”

“If they are a surrogate and they get invited, they get to go,” he added. “As far as in the spin room, it is the candidates on the stage and their delegates. And then if any media organization who’s in the spin room invites one of these surrogates, a Trump surrogate, they are welcome to come. They have to get the invite from the media person in the room.”