For the second time this election cycle, Donald Trump has threatened to forego participating in a Republican primary debate unless the host network yields to his demands.
During his latest campaign rally in Macon, Ga., the GOP front-runner told supporters he could pull out of the upcoming debate on Dec. 15 if CNN, who’s hosting the primetime event, fails to meet certain conditions and continues to treat Trump in a manner he deems unfair.
“How about I tell CNN, who doesn’t treat me properly I’m not gonna do the next debate, okay,” Trump said Monday evening. “How about we do this for CNN: I won’t do the debate unless they pay me $5 million, all of which money goes to the Wounded Warriors or goes to vets?”
In early September, ahead of the second Republican debate, Trump submitted a nearly identical request to CNN President Jeff Zucker. Trump, a ratings magnet, claimed the record-breaking 24 million viewers who tuned in to watch the first GOP debate of the 2016 cycle was “100 [percent] due to ‘Donald J. Trump.'”
“You should view the second debate broadcast as a public service and not accept the massive profits that this airing will generate,” Trump wrote in a letter to Zucker. “I believe that all profits from this broadcast should go to various veterans groups, a list of which I will send to you in the near future.”
Despite requesting the funds be donated to veterans groups, Trump did not threaten to boycott the second debate. He and fellow White House hopeful Ben Carson did employ threat tactics one month later, however, in what proved to be a successful effort to pressure CNBC into trimming its debate to two hours.
Trump, who’s first in the latest Washington Examiner’s presidential power rankings, has yet to indicate how serious he is about his latest threat to the fifth debate.
CNN did not respond to the Examiner’s request for comment.
