Donald Trump, Ben Carson Threaten to Boycott The Next GOP Debate

By Lina Bryce

Donald Trump and Ben Carson have threatened to boycott the next Republican presidential debate if CNBC, who is hosting the event, and the Republican National Committee do not change the current format of the event.

A letter signed by both candidates which was obtained by NBC reads, “neither of our campaigns agreed to either the length you propose or your ban on opening or closing statements. In fact, neither of our campaigns were even consulted.”

The letter, addressed to CNBC Washington Bureau Chief Matthew Cuddy, says that the ban on opening and closing statements and the extended time frame are unacceptable.

“Both our campaigns hope that you will agree with these very reasonable format changes so that CNBC may present all the Republican candidates to your audience,” they write.

CNBC spokesman, Brian Steel, suggested the network may budge on its criteria, promising to “take the candidates’ views on the format into consideration” going forward in his response reported in The New York Times:

Our goal is to host the most substantive debate. Our practice in the past has been to forego opening statements to quickly address the critical issues that matter most to the American people. We started a dialogue yesterday with all of the campaigns involved and we will certainly take the candidates’ views on the format into consideration as we finalize the debate structure.

Donald Trump also took to Twitter to air his grievances:

The @GOP should not agree to the ridiculous debate terms that @CNBC is asking unless there is a major benefit to the party.

— 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. — Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 15, 2015