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GOP front-runner Donald Trump announced on Tuesday that he intends to skip Thursday’s scheduled Fox News Republican presidential debate.
His decision comes shortly after conducting a poll on Twitter on whether he should participate in the debate for fear of being treated "unfairly" by Fox News host and scheduled debate moderator Megyn Kelly.
Despite the fact that a majority of poll-takers voted “yes” (58 percent), Trump will not be joining his fellow contenders on stage Thursday night. Why? A "wise-guy press release" issued by Fox News about Trump's social media conduct pushed him over the edge:
"We had learned from a secret back channel that the Ayatollah and Putin both intend to treat Donald Trump unfairly when they meet with him if he becomes president," Fox News' tongue-in-cheek statement reads. "A nefarious source tells us that Trump has his own secret plan to replace the Cabinet with his Twitter followers to see if he should even go to those meetings.”
“Fox is playing games,” Trump told reporters at a news conference in Marshalltown. “They can’t toy with me like they toy with everybody else. Let them have the debate. Let’s see how they do with the ratings.”
Trump plans to host his own event during the debate, a fundraiser for veterans.
He tweeted out a statement written by his campaign on his decision not to participate:
Fox News issued the following response Tuesday night:
“As many of our viewers know, FOX News is hosting a sanctioned debate in Des Moines, Iowa on Thursday night, three days before the first votes of the 2016 election are cast in the Iowa Caucus. Donald Trump is refusing to debate seven of his fellow presidential candidates on stage that night, which is near unprecedented.
“We’re not sure how Iowans are going to feel about him walking away from them at the last minute, but it should be clear to the American public by now that this is rooted in one thing – Megyn Kelly, whom he has viciously attacked since August and has now spent four days demanding be removed from the debate stage.
"Capitulating to politicians’ ultimatums about a debate moderator violates all journalistic standards, as do threats, including the one leveled by Trump’s campaign manager Corey Lewandowski toward Megyn Kelly.
“In a call on Saturday with a FOX News executive, Lewandowski stated that Megyn had a ‘rough couple of days after that last debate’ and he ‘would hate to have her go through that again.’ Lewandowski was warned not to level any more threats, but he continued to do so. We can’t give in to terrorizations toward any of our employees.
“Trump is still welcome at Thursday night’s debate and will be treated fairly, just as he has been during his 132 appearances on FOX News & FOX Business, but he can’t dictate the moderators or the questions.”