The Slatest

Trump Campaign: We Didn’t Actually Invite Gennifer Flowers to Debate

Gennifer Flowers reacts to a question of whether she still loves Bill Clinton during a press conference on April 14, 1995 to promote her autobiography Passion and Betrayal.

MIKE NELSON/AFP/Getty Images

Gennifer Flowers won’t be sitting in the front row of Monday’s debate after all. Turns out, Donald Trump was just trying to make a point and show he’s a “great counterpuncher,” campaign manager Kellyanne Conway said on Sunday. “I can’t believe how easily baited the Clinton campaign was,” Conway said on CNN. “Mr. Trump was putting them on notice that we could certainly invite guests that may get into the head of Hillary Clinton.”

Flowers “has not been formally invited. I don’t expect her to be a there as a guest of the Trump campaign,” Conway added. Yet she seemed to leave the door open to the possibility that Flowers could still be at the debate. “She has a right to be there if somebody else gives her a ticket,” Conway said on ABC News.

Trump’s running mate was more definitive, telling Fox News that the woman who had an affair with Bill Clinton when he was governor of Arkansas would not be at the debate. “Gennifer Flowers will not be there,” Mike Pence, the governor of Indiana, said. “The tweet was actually mocking effort by Hillary Clinton and her campaign to distract voters.” Trump is a serious person and wants the debate to be about serious issues and is offended that the Clinton camp would invite someone who has “mocked and humiliated” the Republican candidate. “Hillary Clinton thinks this is an episode of Shark Tank, but this is serious business,” he said.

The Clinton campaign also leveled pretty much the same criticism toward Trump, saying he’s trying to distract people from the real issues in the campaign. “He’s a reality TV star. He’s very experienced at providing television entertainment,” Clinton campaign manager Robby Mook said on ABC News. “The presidency is not about entertainment. It’s about serious decisions.”

The whole controversy began when celebrity businessman Mark Cuban said he would be attending the debate. Trump then took to Twitter to say that if Cuban was going to be there he might seat Flowers “right alongside of him.”

Flowers then picked up the baton and said she would “definitely be at the debate.” She confirmed that to both the New York Times and BuzzFeed. She didn’t respond to follow up messages the Times sent on Sunday.