Fox News has canceled the network's upcoming GOP debate scheduled for Monday, after both Donald Trump and John Kasich announced they would not be participating.
"On Feb. 20, the Republican National Committee announced that a GOP presidential primary debate would be held on March 21 in Salt Lake City," said the network's EVP of News, Michael Clemente. "They offered that debate to Fox News Channel to host, provided there were enough candidates actively campaigning. This morning, Donald Trump announced he would not be participating in the debate. Shortly afterward, John Kasich's campaign announced that without Trump at the debate, Kasich would not participate. Ted Cruz has expressed a willingness to debate Trump or Kasich — or both. But obviously, there needs to be more than one participant. So the Salt Lake City debate is cancelled."
There was some confusion as to what Fox News would do with only one debater left, a conundrum exacerbated further by the fact that the network was slow to announce its cancelation.
A source close to the situation told TheWrap the reason the network was so slow to release its statement is because Clemente was still "trying to resurrect" the event. But to no avail. As the source said to TheWrap, "It's done."
After Trump's announcement Wednesday morning that he would be skipping the debate, Kasich's chief campaign strategist, John Weaver, released a statement saying that the Ohio governor won't be showing up either.
Read original story Fox News Cancels GOP Debate After Donald Trump, John Kasich Pull Out At TheWrap
