President Donald Trump said Wednesday night that he will skip debates with “the Fake News Networks” after the Democratic National Committee said they would not hold debates on Fox News.
Trump fired back after the DNC chairman said that Fox could not be trusted to host a fair debate.
Trump on Twitter posted, “Democrats just blocked @FoxNews from holding a debate. Good, then I think I’ll do the same thing with the Fake News Networks and the Radical Left Democrats in the General Election debates!”
Democrats just blocked @FoxNews from holding a debate. Good, then I think I’ll do the same thing with the Fake News Networks and the Radical Left Democrats in the General Election debates!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 7, 2019
Tom Perez, chairman of the DNC, had tweeted Wednesday afternoon, that the organization “cannot rely on Fox to host a fair and neutral debate.”
We win by expanding our electorate and reaching all voters. That's why we've been engaged with media outlets about debates over last few months. But recent reporting has made it clear that we cannot rely on Fox to host a fair and neutral debate.
— Tom Perez (@TomPerez) March 6, 2019
He followed up stating bluntly, “Fox News will not serve as a media partner for the 2020 Democratic primary debates.”
Just to be clear, Fox News will not serve as a media partner for the 2020 Democratic primary debates.
— Tom Perez (@TomPerez) March 6, 2019
This comes after a scathing report from the New Yorker that details the close relationship between Trump, his campaign and Fox.
The report says that Roger Ailes, the network’s late chief executive, and others at the company may have shared questions that would be asked in two Republican debates in 2015 with candidate Trump.
Fox News Senior Vice President Bill Sammon responded to Perez, saying in a statement: “We hope the DNC will reconsider its decision to bar Chris Wallace, Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, all of whom embody the ultimate journalistic integrity and professionalism, from moderating a Democratic presidential debate. They’re the best debate team in the business and they offer candidates an important opportunity to make their case to the largest TV news audience in America, which includes many persuadable voters.”
And Fox’s Bret Baier tweeted that, “That’s really a shame. When it comes to fairness – our news product speaks for itself.”
That’s really a shame. When it comes to fairness – our news product speaks for itself. We will continue to cover this 2020 race fairly & will continue to invite Democrats- Republicans & Independents on to talk about key issues & substance with our very large viewing audience https://t.co/z0TdftcVmz
— Bret Baier (@BretBaier) March 6, 2019
The Democrats have announced 12 debates for later this year, with NBC News and CNN set to broadcast the first two.
