Donald Trump disagrees with those who suggest Hugh Hewitt is too biased to take part in the next Republican debate.
“You’ll treat me fairly,” Trump told the conservative talk radio host Wednesday. “Look, you’re a professional.”
The real estate mogul’s remarks come on the heels of Breitbart News suggesting this week that Hewitt is unfit to take part in a GOP primary debate scheduled for Sept. 16 given his supposed “anti-Trump” bias.
“I sort of didn’t believe the article,” Trump said, referring to the report.
Hewitt said Sunday on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that Trump does not have the temperament to be president.
“No, no he doesn’t,” Hewitt said when asked. “A disappointing part of this debate is it was a 9-10 debate in a 9-11 world.”
These remarks raise serious questions about Hewitt’s role in the upcoming GOP debate, Breitbart reported. The overall implication of the article is that Hewitt is biased and won’t give Trump a fair shake.
“In addition to Hewitt’s criticisms of Trump, he has also predicted Republicans will fail in 2016 — and that current Democratic frontrunner former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will be the next president,” the report read, noting that Hewitt has criticized Trump more than once in the past.
But Hewitt told Trump he’d be fair.
“I’m going to treat you fairly, like every other candidate,” Hewitt told Trump Wednesday,” labeling the Breitbart article as “nonsense.” “No gotchas. Just straight-up hard questions. I hope you’re comfortable with that.”
Trump responded, “Well, I’m comfortable with you. And I sort of didn’t believe the article.”
Hewitt accused Breitbart of trying to pit him against Trump. The radio host also clarified what he meant when he referred to Trump’s temperament.
“I mentioned temperament on Sunday,” he said. “I said you don’t have presidential temperament. I should have said ‘an unprecedented temperament.’ I said that [Monday] before this article came out.”
Breitbart has weathered criticism recently for its fawning coverage of Trump. There are also rumors that the website has worked out some sort of payola scheme with the GOP front-runner.
But whispers that Trump pays Breitbart for favorable coverage remain just that: whispers.
