The Democratic National Committee has made one thing very clear: they don't want Fox News involved in the primary debates. According to DNC Chairman Tom Perez, Fox News is unable to host a "fair and neutral debate" for the Democratic candidates.
Perez released the following statement about the subject:
I believe that a key pathway to victory is to continue to expand our electorate and reach all voters. That is why I have made it a priority to talk to a broad array of potential media partners, including Fox News. Recent reporting in the New Yorker on the inappropriate relationship between President Trump, his administration and Fox News has led me to conclude that the network is not in a position to host a fair and neutral debate for our candidates. Therefore, Fox News will not serve as a media partner for the 2020 Democratic primary debates.
What Perez didn't anticipate, however, was how President Donald Trump would react to the news. Trump took to Twitter to remind Perez of one thing: in order for a general election debate to take place, the president has to be on stage. And he's refusing to cooperate as long as Fox News is left out of the picture:
Democrats just blocked @FoxNews from holding a debate. Good, then I think I’ll do the same thing with the Fake News Networks and the Radical Left Democrats in the General Election debates!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) March 7, 2019
Fox News remains hopeful that the DNC will eventually come around.
“We hope the DNC will reconsider its decision to bar Chris Wallace Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum all of whom embody the ultimate journalistic integrity and professionalism from moderating a Democratic presidential debate. They’re the best debate team in the business and they offer candidates an important opportunity to make their case to the largest TV news audience in America which includes many persuadable voters," Fox News Senior Vice President Bill Sammon said in a statement.
