Fox Business Network will not permit Republican presidential candidates participating in the fourth GOP debate to deliver opening statements, the network reportedly advised the campaigns in a memo sent Friday.
The rules for the fourth debate in Milwaukee come on the heels of tremendous tension between candidates and the Republican National Committee over the structure of the debates, and widespread criticism of CNBC’s recent handling of Wednesday’s debate in Boulder, Colo.
While the network has axed opening statements, which were excluded from the first debate and later demanded by Donald Trump and Ben Carson for the second, candidates will be given more time to answer questions and rebut each other, and deliver 30-second closing statements during the FBN debate on Nov. 10.
Each candidate will be allotted 90 seconds to give their initial response to a moderator’s question, and 60 seconds to respond to direct attacks from another candidate. The GOP hopefuls have previously been limited to 60-second answers and 30-second rebuttals.
A handful of Republican campaign staffers are slated to meet in Washington, D.C., this weekend to discuss how they will pressure both the RNC and the networks hosting future debates to adjust the current structure, which limits the main debate stage to candidates polling at a certain threshold while relegating lower-tier candidates to an earlier undercard debate.
