Trump campaign manager: Trump skipping debate

“It’s not under negotiation”, Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski told reporters Tuesday evening.

“Let’s see how much money Fox is going to make on the debate without me”, Trump said at a press conference in Iowa, reported by the New York Times. While his questioner cited the prospect of a “gotcha” debate, Trump said he has no problems with Fox News, “but they have to treat people fairly”.

His move has now opened into a full out war of words, with Fox News’ senior political analyst Brit Hume likening Trump to a crying baby.

Fox intensified the stand-off by mocking Mr Trump, who had asked his five million Twitter followers to weigh in on whether or not he should attend the debate. He was scheduled to be out of Iowa after the debate on Friday, and helping wounded warriors could neutralize his absence.

Trump’s ongoing feud with FOX News’ Megyn Kelly is the reason that he’s chosen to sit out the next debate, which she will be moderating.

“I said, ‘bye, bye”, he said.

Mr. Trump made his remarks about skipping the event right after the Fox News debate moderator Bret Baier announced the debate lineup on the program “Special Report”.

During his news conference, Trump taunted Fox about the prospect of lower ratings for a debate without his presence. “Without me they’d have no ratings!”

“Megyn Kelly is an excellent journalist, and the entire network stands behind her”, Ailes said in a statement Tuesday to Washington Post blog the Fix.

Kelly herself has stayed mum about the brouhaha.

One thing is for sure: Kelly will be there.

The disagreement came to a head on Tuesday afternoon. The respondents were evenly split, with about half saying he should skip it.

“I’m not a fan of Megyn Kelly”.

Stewart said he didn’t think Trump’s participation – or lack thereof – in this week’s highly anticipated debate would affect the real estate developer’s standing in the polls, and that he personally had no plans to tune in, regardless of whether or not Trump was on stage.

Significantly more than two-thirds of Republicans said he’s the candidate most likely to capture their party’s presidential nomination, according to a new CNN/ORC Poll. But don’t worry, his campaign says this boycott won’t extend past this debate.

Then again, pot-stirring is something “he’s really good at”, CNN media analyst Bill Carter said.