IPFS News Link • Trump Administration

Trump questions why he should participate in GOP primary debates

• https://thehill.com, BY BRETT SAMUELS

"I see that everybody is talking about the Republican Debates, but nobody got my approval, or the approval of the Trump Campaign, before announcing them," Trump wrote on Truth Social. "When you're leading by seemingly insurmountable numbers, and you have hostile Networks with angry, TRUMP & MAGA hating anchors asking the 'questions,' why subject yourself to being libeled and abused?"

Trump also took issue with plans to hold the second planned GOP debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California, noting that Fred Ryan, publisher of The Washington Post, is chairman of the board of trustees at the Reagan library.

The first GOP primary debate is set for August in Milwaukee. The date of the second has not yet been announced.

It has become commonplace for Trump to threaten to skip debates dating back to his time as a candidate for the Republican nomination during the 2016 primary.

He threatened to skip a primary debate in early 2016 because he felt then-Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly would not treat him fairly. Kelly at an earlier debate had pressed Trump on his previous derogatory comments about women.

In March 2016, Trump threatened to skip a CNN town hall interview, citing his perception that the network had treated him unfairly.

In 2019, Trump suggested he may skip the presidential debates the following year if they were hosted by Fox News as he took issue with the network's coverage.