|
 Trump on Tuesday withdrew from the televised encounter, scheduled
for Thursday night in Des Moines, Iowa, in irritation at host Fox
News <FOXA.O> for allowing Kelly to moderate after her questioning
angered him in a debate last year.
The real estate magnate, who is the Republican front-runner to win
the nomination for the Nov. 8 presidential election, followed up
with another round of insults on Wednesday.
"I refuse to call Megyn Kelly a bimbo, because that would not be
politically correct," he wrote on Twitter. "Instead I will only call
her a lightweight reporter!"
In a later interview on Fox News’s “The O’Reilly Factor,” he told
host Bill O'Reilly that she was "highly overrated."
"I have zero respect for Megyn Kelly. I don’t think she’s very good
at what she does," Trump said.
Trump's Republican presidential rivals were quick to criticize the
former reality TV star, with U.S. Senator Ted Cruz of Texas
blistering him in a series of tweets and accusing him of "trembling
at being questioned by Kelly."
At an event in West Des Moines, Iowa, Cruz openly mocked Trump,
calling him a "fragile soul" and "gentle," and renewed his offer to
debate Trump one-on-one Saturday evening.
"It's not that he's afraid of me," Cruz said to the crowd. "He's
afraid of you. He doesn't want to answer questions from the men and
women of Iowa about how his record doesn't match what he's selling."
Another Republican hopeful, U.S. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky, told
Fox News that he welcomed Trump’s absence from the debate stage
because it means "we don’t have to put up with a lot of empty
blather and boastfulness and calling people names.”
Trump's decision means the last televised debate before Monday's
Iowa caucuses - which kick off the state-by-state nominating race to
choose candidates for the presidential election - will not feature
the man who has dominated the Republican race for months and leads
many opinion polls.
It was seen as a bold gamble.
'A RISKY MOVE'
Trump has said that in lieu of his debate participation he will hold
a fundraiser for veterans. It will be held at Drake University in
Des Moines and begin at the same time Thursday as the Fox debate,
according to an invitation his campaign circulated Wednesday
evening.
"It's a risky move; it's very high profile," said Craig Robinson, a
former Iowa state party official. "But I'm not sure it will really
change anyone's mind about Trump."
Trump has been feuding with Fox News since the network hosted the
first Republican debate in August, in which Kelly asked Trump about
his treatment of women, prompting a stream of insults from the
candidate and complaints he was not being treated fairly.
He did not renew his attacks on Kelly during an evening rally in
Gilbert, South Carolina, but told supporters to watch a rerun of the
Fox interview, which he called a "tough interview," when they got
home.
Cruz, Trump's main rival in Iowa, used the hashtag #DuckingDonald to
make fun of Trump for ducking out of the debate and tweeted a
mocked-up picture of Trump's head on Donald Duck's body sitting on a
pile of money.
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Cruz, a conservative and a debating champion in college, tweeted a
link to "duckingdonald.com," which asked visitors to sign a petition
in favor of Cruz and Trump having a side debate.
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, another Republican presidential
contender, described Trump’s decision at such a crucial time as “a
big mistake” that calls into question his ability to be president.
“Anytime you get a podium and a microphone and 15-20 million people
watching in an election campaign, you should take it,” Christie told
Boston Herald Radio.
Another Republican candidate, U.S. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida,
said he wanted to focus on keeping the party united in order to beat
Hillary Clinton, the former secretary of state, if she becomes the
Democratic nominee.
"These kinds of theatrics by Ted Cruz and Donald Trump are an
entertaining sideshow, but they have nothing to do with defeating
Hillary Clinton," Rubio said.
Not every candidate was convinced Trump would follow through on his
pledge to stay away.
"He apparently is not going to come to the debate, although I’ve got
a $20 bet he’ll show up,” former Florida Governor Jeb Bush said at a
town hall meeting in response to a question.
"Poor little Donald, being treated unfairly,” he said.
Trump's campaign manager, Corey Lewandowski, said Trump was not
afraid to debate his rivals or take reporters' questions. He added
that Trump would be happy to debate Cruz if the contest, in which 12
Republicans are vying for their party's nomination, narrows.
"If it comes down to a two-person race, Donald Trump would be happy
to debate him," Lewandowski told ABC's "Good Morning America"
program.
Fox News, in a statement on Tuesday, said it would not "give in to
terrorizations toward any of our employees," but left the door open
to Trump attending the debate. The event will be co-hosted by
Alphabet Inc's <GOOGL.O> Google.
"At the end of the day, Mr. Trump is going to have the last laugh,"
Lewandowski told MSNBC.
(Additional reporting by Steve Holland and James Oliphant in Iowa
and Eric Beech and Dustin Volz in Washington; Writing by John
Whitesides and Alistair Bell; Editing by Jonathan Oatis, Leslie
Adler and Lisa Shumaker)
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