Trump campaign says candidate won’t participate in Fox News/Google debate

Republican frontrunner Donald Trump will not attend Thursday’s Fox News GOP debate, just four days before Iowa kicks off the presidential nomination process.

Mr Trump’s decision to skip the debate comes after he expressed his dissatisfaction with Fox News’ decision to leave anchor Megyn Kelly in place as a moderator.

Speaking on Instagram he said: “Megyn Kelly’s really biased against me”. “She knows that. I know that”.

When Trump read the statement, he shot back with a tweet, calling it a “pathetic attempt by Fox News to try and build up ratings for the #GOPDebate”.

He also expressed displeasure at a Fox News statement that said Mr 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 try not to let my own personal feelings or emotions enter into it – in any of these interviews that I do and certainly not at a presidential debate”. Instead, the real estate tycoon said he would be holding another event in Iowa which would raise funds for veterans.

She is expected to moderate the Thursday debate.

Trump, as he has since the race in Iowa tightened, questioned whether Cruz was a “natural born” citizen and qualified under the Constitution to be president.

In a more serious statement, a Fox News spokesperson said that capitulating “to politicians’ ultimatums about a debate moderator violates all journalistic standards, as do threats, including the one leveled by Trump’s campaign manager” toward Kelly.

Trump turned on Kelly after a GOP debate in August, when Kelly asked him about his electability given comments he’s made about women and how he called them “fat pigs, dogs, slobs, and disgusting animals” on Twitter.

Cruz created an online petition showing a mock-up of Trump with the Disney character’s body, sitting on bags of money, on top of a mountain of gold coins, encouraging supporters to “Tell Ducking Donald: Debate Ted Cruz”. “Let Fox play its games”, Trump said.

You know, maybe Fox News was going to have a 20-25 million person debate.

Trump, who had previously suggested he might skip the debate if Kelly wasn’t removed, on Tuesday took to his 5.8 million Twitter followers for their advice on whether he should participate in Thursday’s debate. Florida Senator Marco Rubio landed at 8 percent, retired neurosurgeon Ben Carson at 6 percent, former Florida Governor Jeb Bush at 5 percent, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie at 4 percent, and the rest at 3 percent or less.

Cruz issued his own debate challenge to his main Iowa rival – a 90-minute one-on-one debate next Monday, the day of the Iowa caucuses.