Taking his feud with Fox News to a new extreme, GOP front-runner Donald Trump said he will skip Thursday night’s debate on the network.
Trump has had a running battle with anchor Megyn Kelly, who moderated the network’s last debate, and he said he didn’t think he’d be treated fairly this time around.
He also objected to this tongue-in-cheek statement put out by Roger Ailes and Fox: “We learned from a secret back channel that the Ayatollah and Putin both intend to treat Donald Trump unfairly when they meet with him if he becomes president — a nefarious source tells us that Trump has his own secret plan to replace the Cabinet with his Twitter followers to see if he should even go to those meetings.”
At a news conference Tuesday night in Marshalltown, Iowa, Trump said he would likely hold his own simultaneous event to raise money for veterans and wounded warriors.
“I’m going to raise money during that period of time. I’m going to raise money for the wounded warriors and the veterans.”
Trump said he does not like how Fox News has been reacting to statements he has made — and he called Kelly a “lightweight” and “a third-rate reporter.” He added, “I enjoy debating … I actually love it. And if you check Drudge, and Time, and Slate, and all of the other online polls that judge the debates, almost every single poll said I won every single debate. That’s not bad.”
Over the weekend, Trump had tweeted: “Based on @MegynKelly’s conflict of interest and bias she should not be allowed to be a moderator of the next debate.” The network replied: “Megyn Kelly has no conflict of interest. Donald Trump is just trying to build up the audience for Thursday’s debate, for which we thank him.”
Then, Monday night, Trump told CNN he might skip the debate if Kelly participates, prompting Fox News to reply that politicians don’t get to choose the journalists that question them, and that yes, Kelly would remain a prominent part of Thursday night’s debate.
Responding to the story, Rick Tyler, Texas Sen. Ted Cruz’s campaign manager, commented to CNN, “To me it’s just erratic behavior, it’s inexplicable, and it’s just childish. Donald Trump should be there … Donald Trump should be in the debate just like everybody else.”
After Trump’s news conference, his campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, confirmed that Trump would “definitely not” participate in the Thursday debate.
“He’s definitely not participating in the Fox News debate,” Lewandowski told The Washington Post. “His word is his bond.”
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