Eric Deters to hold Freedom Fest without Donald Trump, says other Trumps will be there
Freedom Fest is back on, just without an in-person appearance from Donald Trump.
Former attorney and former Republican gubernatorial candidate Eric Deters announced Thursday afternoon that his annual pro-Trump rally on his Northern Kentucky farm will happen after all, weeks after he canceled it when he said Trump wouldn't show.
The Sept. 9 event will be sans Trump Sr. but other Trumps will be there, Deters said in a video he posted to Facebook on Thursday afternoon. According to Deters, speakers will include Trump's sons, Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump; Kimberly Guilfoyle, who is Trump Jr.'s fiancée and former Trump adviser; television personality Dog the Bounty Hunter and controversial media personality and filmmaker Dinesh D'Souza.
Deters announced in June that Trump would headline the festival in person. Then in mid-August, Deters said he was cancelling the event because Trump bowed out of the event to campaign in Iowa.
Trump will appear in a video message broadcast on a giant screen at the event, Deters said.
"I canceled this event because Donald Trump couldn’t make it," Deters said in the video on Facebook. "It was kind of a buzzkill, however, lots and lots of people still wanted me to have it. Then I got a phone call from some of the speakers, and they wanted me to keep it on. So I am."
In his video message on Thursday, Deters also remarked about Trump being expected to surrender in Georgia to be booked on charges related to efforts to overturn Georgia's 2020 election results.
"When I think about it, I think with all that’s going on, and Trump is having to turn himself in Fulton County today, the timing might even be better," Deters said of Freedom Fest.
This will be the third time Deters has held Freedom Fest on his farm in Morning View, Kentucky, about 20 miles south of Cincinnati and the second time Trump's sons have spoken at the event. Donald Trump Jr. and Eric Trump revved up the crowd at the 2022 Freedom Fest.
The admission to Freedom Fest will be free but Deters is selling access to a VIP tent with the speakers as well as space in the front row for $2,500.
"I would rather uncancel it and go forward with it and put on a great event like we planned," Deters said. "The president won’t be there but everybody else will be."
Deters has consistently made headlines over the past few decades as a lawyer and politician, not all of them positive. He had his law license suspended in 2021 and pleaded guilty in March to a misdemeanor for chasing down his nephew after he was flipped the middle finger. He also lost his run for governor in the May primary, garnering 6% of the vote and coming in fourth.
This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: Pro-Trump Freedom Fest is back on, Eric Deters says
