Donald Trump had a private dinner with the leadership at Fox News yesterday after he learned he was indicted.

But the dinner had nothing to do with the indictment. Rather it was a plea by Fox News that Trump show up to the first debate.

Here’s more from the NY Times:

Shortly after learning he was being indicted a third time, former President Donald J. Trump had a private dinner with the top leadership at Fox News as they lobbied him to attend the first Republican presidential primary debate this month, three people familiar with the event said.

The dinner between Mr. Trump, the Fox News president Jay Wallace and the network’s chief executive, Suzanne Scott, was held in a private dining room at Mr. Trump’s golf club in Bedminster, N.J., according to two of the people familiar with the event.

Mr. Trump has been vocal about probably skipping the first debate, which Fox News is hosting with the Republican National Committee on Aug. 23 in Milwaukee, as well as the second, planned for September at the Reagan Presidential Library in California. But he has also made clear to several people in private conversations that he hasn’t closed the door on attending the first one.

Despite Mr. Trump’s caustic attacks on Fox News over the past several days on his social media site, Truth Social, the two-hour dinner was described as cordial.

The Fox executives made a soft appeal for Mr. Trump to attend the debate, two of the people familiar with the dinner said, telling the former president that he excels on the center stage and that it presents an opportunity for him to show off his debate skills. Several people who have tried pushing Mr. Trump to debate in recent weeks have argued that if he does not show up, he could be giving an opening to other candidates to perform well.

Mr. Trump told the Fox executives that he had not yet made a decision and would keep an open mind, the three people said. The Fox team requested the meeting. The dinner was supposed to have included another participant from the network — the host Sean Hannity, who is friendly with Mr. Trump — but he was doing his 9 p.m. show and couldn’t make it.

Clearly they were trying to butter Trump up in order to get him to be at the debate later this month. And the fact that he told them he hasn’t made a decision yet is interesting.

Do I think he’ll be there? Probably not for the first debate. But who knows. Trump clearly sees DeSantis as his biggest threat so he may decide to show up and debate. I know that would make Fox News happy…