former arkansas gov. mike huckabee has announced plans to attend donald trump's fundraising rally for wounded warriors, slated to take place in des moines, iowa, thursday night - the same time as the republican debate.









"he'll do the undercard debate on fox news and then head over to the trump rally, which is about 10 minutes away from the debate site," cbn's david brody said.









read more about huckabee's appearance at the trump rally at the brody file.



















the news comes as trump reaffirmed his decision to boycott the gop debate. that event will be hosted by fox news, which he has accused of unfair treatment.









"i don't like being taken advantage of," trump said in an interview wednesday on fox, signaling he wasn't boycotting the highly rated network completely.









trump threatened to boycott the debate if fox kept megyn kelly as debate moderator, but it was statement from fox news that led him to make his final decision.









that statement said the leaders of iran and russia "both intend to treat donald trump unfairly when they meet with him if he becomes president" and that "trump has his own secret plan to replace the cabinet with his twitter followers to see if he should even go to those meetings," reports the associated press.









the other gop candidates are hoping they can emerge thursday night from the shadow trump has cast over the race.









"i think it'll hurt him that he's not showing up in the iowa debate four days before the iowa caucuses," former florida gov. jeb bush told cnn.









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trump's absence will likely bring more attention to sens. ted cruz, r-texas, and marco rubio, r-fla., who is hoping for a third place finish in iowa.









rubio said republicans "don't have time for these kinds of distractions."
huckabee appearing at trump event in iowa
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