--- title: Malik Obama Will Be Donald Trump's Guest at Third Debate description: Barack Obama's half-brother Malik will show his support for Donald Trump at the third presidential debate on Wednesday canonical: https://time.com/4536121/malik-obama-donald-trump-third-debate/ author: Sarah Begley article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-10-18T23:08:31.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:48:17.359Z article:section: Politics og:title: Donald Trump Is Bringing President Obama's Half-Brother to the Third Debate og:description: Trump says Malik Obama "gets it far better than his brother" og:url: https://time.com/4536121/malik-obama-donald-trump-third-debate/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5c7895eb45fc4035/6988aa8d0b72e303436eb66f/malik-obama.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 5634 og:image:height: 3169 og:image:alt: Malik Obama og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Donald Trump Is Bringing President Obama's Half-Brother to the Third Debate twitter:description: Trump says Malik Obama "gets it far better than his brother" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5c7895eb45fc4035/6988aa8d0b72e303436eb66f/malik-obama.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Donald Trump Is Bringing President Obama's Half-Brother to the Third Debate > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters. by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Oct 18, 2016 11:08 PM UTC  Malik Obama, half-brother of President Barack Obama, in Kogelo, Kenya, on Nov. 4, 2012. Malik Obama, half-brother of President Barack Obama, in Kogelo, Kenya, on Nov. 4, 2012. Ben Curtis—AP by [Sarah Begley](https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/) ## Sarah Begley Oct 18, 2016 11:08 PM UTC [Barack Obama’](http://time.com/4535623/president-obama-donald-trump-stop-whining-transcript/)s half-brother [Malik](http://pagesix.com/2016/10/18/obamas-half-brother-to-support-trump-at-vegas-debate/) will show his support for [Donald Trump ](http://time.com/4534885/donald-trump-gaffes/)at the third presidential debate on Wednesday. The Kenyan-born man, who is also a U.S. citizen, announced in [July](http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-obama-idUSKCN10518K) he would vote for the Republican nominee. Now he tells the New York _Post_ he is “excited” to attend the debate in Las Vegas and believes Trump “can make America Great Again.” Trump tells the _Post_ his guest “gets it far better than his brother.” The Trump campaign confirmed to TIME that Malik would be the candidate’s guest. Malik told the _Post_ he does not believe the women who have come forward to accuse Trump of sexual misconduct, asking, “Why didn’t they come forward before?” He found fault with Hillary Clinton’s work as Secretary of State, claiming that [Muammar Gaddafi](http://time.com/4170821/blair-gaddafi-conversations/) had been a friend and adding, “Check out the situation in Libya now.” He says his most recent visit with his half-brother at the White House in 2015 was a “hands-off kind of thing, very businesslike, very formal.” Malik has expressed resentment that Barack Obama has not helped him with his foundation to support the family’s village of Kogelo, Kenya. In [2013](http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2013-01-14/obama-s-step-brother-will-seek-governorship-of-kenyan-county), he unsuccessfully ran for governor of the western Kenyan county of Siaya. \[[_New York Post_](http://pagesix.com/2016/10/18/obamas-half-brother-to-support-trump-at-vegas-debate/)\] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4536121/malik-obama-donald-trump-third-debate/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4536121/malik-obama-donald-trump-third-debate/"},"headline":"Donald Trump Is Bringing President Obama's Half-Brother to the Third Debate","datePublished":"2016-10-18T23:08:31.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:48:17.359Z","description":"Trump says Malik \"gets it far better than his brother\"","url":"https://time.com/4536121/malik-obama-donald-trump-third-debate/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5c7895eb45fc4035/6988aa8d0b72e303436eb66f/malik-obama.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Sarah Begley","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/sarah-begley/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5c7895eb45fc4035/6988aa8d0b72e303436eb66f/malik-obama.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Malik Obama","caption":"Malik Obama, half-brother of President Barack Obama, in Kogelo, Kenya, on Nov. 4, 2012.","creditText":"Ben Curtis—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4536121/malik-obama-donald-trump-third-debate/","name":"Donald Trump Is Bringing President Obama's Half-Brother to the Third Debate"}}]}] ```