GOP presidential candidate Ben Carson takes break from campaign trail to

– Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 15, 2015.@CNBC is pushing the @GOP around by asking for extra time (and no criteria) in order to sell more commercials.

“Neither Mr Trump or Dr Carson will participate in your debate if it is longer than 120 minutes including commercials and does not include opening and closing statements”. So what CNBC did was send out a memo and said, Heres the criteria as you have approved them and that went out to all the campaigns.

Neither Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski nor Trump campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks immediately responded to requests for comment. Meanwhile, Trump’s aide Michael Glassner offered his support to the other campaigns’ complaints.

Carson has regularly polled in second place behind Trump and Trump said Wednesday that he will soon have to go after him, though he is reticent to do so.

In response, Brian Steel, a spokesman for CNBC, suggested the network may budge on its criteria, promising to “take the candidates’ views on the format into consideration” going forward.

GOP front-runner Donald Trump has promised to pay for his presidential campaign out of his own pockets, but the billionaire is getting off cheap, spending just $100,000 of his own money in the most recent fundraising period, according to his campaign.

Rather than engaging in presidential politics, the governor said he spends most of his time worrying about matters in Massachusetts, describing that approach as “good news for your listeners”.

They’re also demanding that the candidates get to make opening and closing statements – another way for them to talk directly to the GOP base without having to face pesky questions from reporters.

Debates are indeed not the best format for a few of the candidates’ personal styles – Carson, as one of the most soft-spoken candidates in the field, has struggled in the past to gain screen time and make his mark on the debate stage. Even taking that into account, though, it strikes me that a two-and-a-half to three hour debate on a weekday evening is just a little bit excessive.

Trump and Carson are reportedly not the only candidates upset with CNBC over the programme’s format, Politico reported.