He had said he thought there had been enough debates, but this morning Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump was clear: he’s out. In an interview on Fox & Friends, Trump said he would not attend the next debate, hosted by Fox News.
“Nobody told me about debates. Nobody told me… I thought the last debate on CNN was the last debate,” Trump said, explaining that he had committed to give a “major speech” and could not attend even if he wanted to. “I was very surprised when I heard that Fox called for a debate. Nobody told me about it. I won’t be there.”
The debate–which will be the 13th GOP debate of this cycle–will be held March 21 in Salt Lake City and moderated by Bret Baier, Chris Wallace, and Megyn Kelly. Trump went after Kelly again last night calling her “crazy” in a series of disparaging tweets.
With Trump declining, and Marco Rubio out of the race, only John Kasich and Ted Cruz would be likely to attend.
In the 2008 cycle there were 14 sanctioned GOP debates. In 2012 there were 20, with the final debate taking place Feb. 22, 2012.