Fox News: We Refused To Donate Money For Trump To Appear At Our Debate

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump gives the thumbs up during a campaign stop in Council Bluffs, Iowa, Tuesday, Dec. 29, 2015. (AP Photo/Nati Harnik)
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Fox News said Thursday night in a statement that chairman Roger Ailes talked with Donald Trump throughout the course of the day, but the network ultimately refused Trump’s offer that he’d participate in its Republican presidential debate if the network donated $5 million to his charities.

Trump decided to skip the debate and hold his own campaign event after the network released a scathing statement in response to comments Trump made about Fox host Megyn Kelly’s ability to moderate the debate fairly.

In an interview with CNN Thursday night, Trump said that someone from Fox News had called him and apologized.

Here’s the full statement Fox News provided to TPM:

Roger Ailes had three brief conversations with Donald Trump today about possibly appearing at the debate – there were not multiple calls placed by Ailes to Trump.

In the course of those conversations, we acknowledged his concerns about a satirical observation we made in order to quell the attacks on Megyn Kelly, and prevent her from being smeared any further.

Furthermore, Trump offered to appear at the debate upon the condition that FOX News contribute $5 million to his charities. We explained that was not possible and we could not engage in a quid pro quo, nor could any money change hands for any reason.

In the last 48 hours, we’ve kept two issues at the forefront — we would never compromise our journalistic standards and we would always stand by our journalist, Megyn Kelly. We have accomplished those two goals and we are pleased with the outcome. We’re very proud to have her on stage as a debate moderator alongside Bret Baier & Chris Wallace.”

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