DES MOINES, Iowa (AP) — The Latest on developments from the 2016 Republican race for president, less than a week out from the Iowa caucuses (all times local):
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6:50 p.m.
Donald Trump says his foundation has raised $5 million for veterans ahead of a rally he’d holding as he boycotts the final GOP debate before Monday’s Iowa caucuses.
In an interview with reporters on his plane before his Thursday night event at Drake University, Trump said he’s putting up $1 million of his own money that many of his wealthy friends are giving large-dollar contributions as well.
Angry over an escalating feud with debate host Fox News, Trump is hosting the rally at the same time as the debate being held just a couple miles away.
Earlier Thursday, Trump launched a new website for collecting donations: donaldtrumpforvets.com. Contributions to the site will go to The Donald J. Trump Foundation, Trump’s nonprofit charitable organization.
The page says: “100 percent of your donations will go directly to Veterans needs.”
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2:45 p.m.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio avoids attacking his Republican presidential rivals in his latest political television ad, and instead, is opting to go after Democrat Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama.
Rubio says in the ad that the election is about defeating Clinton and about “saving what makes America unique.”
The senator also says in the ad that Obama is cause for American frustrations. The 30-second ad began airing in Iowa on Thursday.
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2:05 p.m.
Donald Trump will be joined by two of his rivals at the event he’s throwing in place of attending Thursday’s GOP debate.
Former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee and former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum will be joining Trump at the veterans benefit at Drake University.
Aides to both candidates say they will be traveling to the Trump event after participating in the undercard debate for candidates whose poll numbers aren’t high enough to qualify for the main stage.
Huckabee says on CNN the move should not be seen as an endorsement of Trump’s candidacy.
He says he didn’t have anything else to do at the time and is “delighted to join with Donald Trump in an effort to salute veterans.”
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1:50 p.m.
Vice President Joe Biden says Democrats may have “been given a gift from the Lord” in the form of Donald Trump and Ted Cruz.
Biden is riffing on the 2016 race as he addresses House Democrats at their annual retreat in Baltimore. Biden says between Cruz and Trump, “I don’t know who to root for more.”
Many Democrats are hoping that if Republicans nominate an unconventional candidate like Cruz or Trump, Democrats will have an easier time defeating their nominee in the general election.
Biden says he’s confident Democrats can win back the Senate in 2016. He says his party can make “great inroads” in winning back House seats and potentially even capture the majority “when nobody expects it.”
Biden opted against running for president in 2016.
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12:10 p.m.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has launched a new website for collecting donations to veterans ahead of his event on Thursday evening.
The link, which Trump posted on Twitter, includes the seal of the Donald J. Trump Foundation, and a form for contributions.
It says that 100 percent of donations will go directly to veterans’ needs.
Trump has chosen to skip Thursday night’s final GOP debate before Monday’s Iowa caucuses.
He is holding a dueling event on the Drake University campus at the same time.
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10:40 a.m.
Iowa fast-food workers calling for $15-an-hour wages say they’ll stage a day of demonstrations ahead of the Republican presidential debate.
Workers from restaurants including McDonald’s walked off the job for the day Thursday.
Activists say the daylong series of protests will culminate with a march to the Iowa Events Center and rally at the debate site, where they hope to draw at least 1,000 low-wage workers.
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9:30 a.m.
Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump is continuing his attacks on Fox News host and debate moderator Megyn Kelly.
The GOP front-runner posted seductive photos of her from a 2010 GQ Magazine shoot on his official Twitter page and referred to her as “the bimbo that’s asking presidential questions.”
Trump’s Fox feud dates back to the first primary debate, when Kelly took him to task over derogatory statements he’d made about women.
Trump announced this week that he would boycott Thursday’s Fox debate following a mocking Fox News statement that suggested Trump would replace the Cabinet with his Twitter followers and that the leaders of Iran and Russia “both intend to treat Donald Trump unfairly” if he becomes president.
He accused Kelly of being “a lightweight” and says he will instead host a fundraiser for wounded veterans instead of attending the debate.
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9:20 a.m.
Republican presidential candidate Ben Carson received a standing ovation from Iowa lawmakers during a visit to the state Capitol.
Carson spent time in the House chamber Thursday morning. He sat alongside Rep. Rob Taylor, a Republican from West Des Moines who is co-chair of Carson’s campaign in Iowa.
Carson did not make public remarks but received a standing ovation from lawmakers in the chamber when Taylor introduced him. He later met privately with Republican lawmakers.
Carson is one of several presidential candidates traveling around Iowa ahead of the first-in-the-nation caucuses on Monday. He will participate in a Fox News GOP debate Thursday night in Des Moines.
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9:00 a.m.
A new $1 million political advertisement says that Donald Trump can’t be trusted, even on his signature issue of getting tough on illegal immigrants.
The ad seeks to undermine the frequent Republican presidential poll leader’s tough talk about building a wall on the Mexican border.
It includes comments he has made about giving “amnesty” to some who are in the country illegally. And it goes on to assert that his real estate development company relies on illegal immigrants for cheap labor, pointing out a $1 million fine the Trump Organization paid for employing illegal immigrants in the construction of the Trump Tower in New York.
Representatives of Trump’s campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The commercial, which is set to begin airing Friday in Iowa and also will soon debut in New Hampshire, is sponsored by Our Principles, an anti-Trump super political action committee led by Katie Packer, a former aide to 2012 GOP nominee Mitt Romney.
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2:20 a.m.
It looks like Republican presidential candidates will be debating without their front-runner. Donald Trump hopes to starve his rivals of attention at a critical juncture in the campaign by holding a competing event of his own.
Trump’s abrupt decision to boycott the final debate before Monday’s Iowa caucuses has added a new layer of uncertainty to a race that has defied political convention. The real estate mogul cites “unfair” treatment from debate host Fox News as his reason for skipping the contest Thursday night in favor of a rally nearby.
Other GOP candidates see Trump’s move as a welcome opportunity to emerge from the long shadow the billionaire has cast over the race, while also hoping it might damage his standing with Iowa voters.
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