Donald Trump says he’s not certain he’ll participate in Thursday night’s Republican presidential debate because he doesn’t think Fox News moderator Megyn Kelly is capable of treating him fairly.
Speaking Monday on CNN’s “Situation Room,” Trump went on a diatribe against Kelly, provoking anchor Wolf Blitzer to ask him he was certain to participate in Thursday’s Fox News debate.
{mosads}The party front-runner said he “probably” would participate, but that “nothing is 100 percent” yet.
“I’m not 100 percent, I’ll see,” Trump said. “If I think I’m going to be treated unfairly I’ll do something else. But I don’t think she can treat me fairly, actually. I think she’s very biased and I don’t think she can treat me fairly.”
“But that doesn’t mean I don’t do the debate,” he continued. “I like doing the debates. I’ve won every single debate according to every single poll … so I want to do the debates, they’re good for me. But I don’t think she can treat me fairly and I’m not a big fan of hers. Maybe I know too much about her.”
An official for Fox News shot back at Trump in a statement to The Hill.
“Sooner or later Donald Trump, even if he’s president, is going to have to learn that he doesn’t get to pick the journalists — we’re very surprised he’s willing to show that much fear about being questioned by Megyn Kelly,” the spokesman said.
Trump and Kelly have been feuding since the first Republican presidential in August of 2015, where Kelly challenged Trump on past comments he made that were derogatory toward women.
Following that debate, the celebrity businessman came under fire for saying that Kelly was coming after him with “blood coming out her wherever.”
Trump continued his criticism of Kelly on Monday, saying flatly: “I don’t like her.”
“I might be the best thing to ever happen to her,” Trump added. “Whoever had even heard of her before the last debate? But I thought she was very unfair in the last debate. A lot of people said I won the last debate, everyone said I won the last debate, but I’m not a fan of Megyn Kelly. I don’t like her and she probably doesn’t like me and that’s OK. But she better be fair.”
Thursday’s Fox News debate is the last debate before the Feb. 1 Iowa caucuses.
Trump has threatened to skip two previous debates but has always participated. He has also threatened to run as an independent if the Republican Party doesn’t treat him fairly.
This story was updated at 7:09 p.m.