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 Trump's campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, told reporters after
a combative news conference held by the candidate that Trump would
definitely not be participating in the debate scheduled for Thursday
in Des Moines, Iowa, and co-hosted by Google <GOOGL.O>.
During the news conference before he addressed a large crowd in
Marshalltown, Iowa, Trump expressed irritation that Fox News planned
to leave in place as a moderator the anchor Megyn Kelly, whose
questioning of Trump at a debate last August angered him.
He also expressed displeasure at a Fox News statement on Monday
night saying Trump would have to learn sooner or later that "he
doesn’t get to pick the journalists" and that "we’re very surprised
he’s willing to show that much fear about being questioned by Megyn
Kelly.”
"I was all set to do the debate, I came here to do the debate. When
they sent out the wise-guy press release done by some PR person
along with (Fox News Chairman) Roger Ailes, I said: 'Bye bye, OK'"
"Let's see how much money Fox makes without me in the debate," the
billionaire businessman added.
 Trump has been engaged in a public spat with Fox News since the
network hosted the first debate and Kelly asked Trump about his
treatment of woman, prompting a stream of insults from the
candidate.
The debate is scheduled for just days before Iowa's caucuses on
Monday, the first nominating contest for the Nov. 8 presidential
election.
Trump's campaign announced that instead of participating in the
debate, he would hold a fundraiser for "Veterans and Wounded
Warriors."
Fox News responded by releasing a statement charging Trump's
campaign manager with threatening Kelly, saying during a call
Lewandowski had referred to her "rough couple of days" after the
previous debate she moderated and added that he would "hate to have
her go through that again."
"We can’t give in to terrorizations toward any of our employees,"
Fox said in a statement.
The network added that Trump remains welcome to participate in the
Thursday night debate.
Trump's Republican rivals quickly criticized him for opting out of
the debate.
“The fact that Donald is now afraid to appear on the debate stage,
that he doesn’t want his record questioned, I think that reflects a
lack of respect for the men and women on Iowa,” Texas Senator Ted
Cruz, who is in a tight race with Trump for first place in the
state, said on Mark Levin's radio program.
“If Donald is afraid of Megyn Kelly, I would like to invite him on
your show to participate in a one-on-one debate between me and
Donald, mano-a-mano,” Cruz said, adding: "If he thinks Megyn Kelly
is so scary, what exactly does he think he’d do with Vladimir
Putin?"
Former Florida Governor Jeb Bush criticized Trump on Twitter,
saying: "exactly" in response to a conservative commentator who cast
doubt on whether Trump could run against Democratic front-runner
Hillary Clinton if he were afraid of Kelly.
[to top of second column] |
DEMOCRATS DEBATE ADDITIONAL DEBATE
In the Democratic contest, news channel MSNBC and the New Hampshire
Union Leader newspaper sketched out plans to host a debate in New
Hampshire among Clinton and challengers Bernie Sanders and Martin
O’Malley, a few days before the state's primary election on Feb. 9.
But the Democratic National Committee raised doubts about whether it
would proceed, saying in a statement it had no plans to sanction the
debate.
It left open the question of whether it would punish any
participants by excluding them from the two remaining sanctioned
debates.
Spokesmen for Clinton, the former secretary of state who leads most
polls, and O'Malley, a former Maryland governor, said their
candidates would be happy to take part, at least in theory.
The New York Times quoted the campaign manager for Sanders as saying
the Vermont senator would sit out the unsanctioned debate.
RATINGS BONANZA
Trump's blunt-spoken candidacy has boosted ratings for the
Republican presidential debates. The August debate on Fox News drew
24 million viewers, a record for a presidential primary debate and
the highest non-sports telecast in cable TV history.
But a boycott could prove risky for Trump as Iowa Republicans seek
to take one more look at who they want as their presidential
candidate. Rivals like Cruz, Florida Senator Marco Rubio, Bush, and
retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson could reap the benefits.
"How many debates do you have to do?" Trump told reporters. "The
Democrats are finished with their debates. ... The Republicans go on
forever and ever and ever with debates. We have people on the stand
who have zero (percentage points in the poll), who have one, who
have nothing. So it's time that somebody plays grown up."
At his campaign event in Marshalltown, Trump expressed confidence in
his position in the race, saying if he were to win Iowa, he could
"run the table" and roll up subsequent victories in New Hampshire,
South Carolina and beyond.
"Iowa is very important. So you’ve got to get out, you’ve got to get
out and caucus," he told his supporters.
(Reporting by Steve Holland and Ginger Gibson; Additional reporting
by Eric Walsh in Washington and Jonathan Allen in New York; Editing
by Peter Cooney and Simon Cameron-Moore)
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