Donald Trump backs out of debate with Bernie Sanders By Hadas Gold
05/27/16 04:16 PM EDT
Donald Trump will not participate in a debate with Sen. Bernie Sanders, the GOP nominee said in a statement on Friday.
"Based on the fact that the Democratic nominating process is totally rigged and Crooked Hillary Clinton and Deborah Wasserman Schultz will not allow Bernie Sanders to win, and now that I am the presumptive Republican nominee, it seems inappropriate that I would debate the second place finisher," Trump said. "Likewise, the networks want to make a killing on these events and are not proving to be too generous to charitable causes, in this case, women’s health issues. Therefore, as much as I want to debate Bernie Sanders - and it would be an easy payday - I will wait to debate the first place finisher in the Democratic Party, probably Crooked Hillary Clinton, or whoever it may be."
Sanders camp: Maybe Trump is 'chickening out' of debate By Nolan D. McCaskill
Trump had originally told Jimmy Kimmel earlier this week he would participate in a debate with Sanders if the host network would donate millions of dollars to a charity. According to a source within the Sanders campaign, nearly every single major television news network had been reaching out to multiple members of the campaign staff in hopes of hosting the debate.
Minutes before Trump's statement, Sanders' campaign manager said two broadcast networks offered to make a major contribution to charity in order to host a debate between Sanders and Donald Trump.
"Our campaign and the Trump campaign have received two offers by broadcast television networks to host the Sanders-Trump debate that we suggested. Both offers include a major contribution to charity," Sanders campaign manager Jeff Weaver said in a statement on Friday. "We are prepared to accept one of those offers and look forward to working with the Trump campaign to develop a time, place and format that is mutually agreeable. Given that the California primary is on June 7, it is imperative that this all comes together as soon as possible. We look forward to a substantive debate that will contrast the very different visions that Sen. Sanders and Mr. Trump have for the future of our country."
'The Young Turks' host offers $1 million to stage Sanders-Trump debate By Cristiano Lima
Beyond the broadcast networks, online show The Young Turks has offered $1 million to host the debate, while technology company Traction and Scale offered $10 million to host the debate.
But it was pretty clear Trump was never very serious about the prospect of a debate, despite the Sanders campaign's goading. Almost immediately reports began to emerge that Trump was "joking", and at a rally on Friday in Fresno, Calif., Trump said while he wanted to "debate him so badly," he probably wouldn't do it.
"If you're in first place, you don't want to really debate a guy who's in second place," Trump said.
Hadas Gold is a reporter at Politico.
Read more: http://www.politico.com/blogs/on-media/2016/05/donald-trump-backs-out-of-debate-with-bernie-sanders-223674#ixzz49tHCJTbJ
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