Trump Sabotages GOP Debate Revolt

The Hill reports:

Donald Trump threw the Republican presidential campaigns for a loop on Monday, announcing that he’d break from a group seeking to gain control over the debate process and go it alone. Representatives from nearly every campaign — including Trump’s — gathered at a Washington-area hotel on Sunday night to hash out a list of demands they hoped to extract from the networks hosting 2016 debates going forward. As late as Monday afternoon, Trump campaign officials appeared to be on board with a group letter crafted by Republican lawyer Ben Ginsberg, detailing how the campaigns expect the debates to proceed.

But The Washington Post first reported late Monday that Trump would reject the group letter and instead negotiate with the networks on his own. “As we have for the previous three debates, the Trump campaign will continue to negotiate directly with the host network to establish debate criteria that will determine Mr. Trump’s participation,” a spokesman for the GOP front-runner said in an email to The Hill. “This is no different than the process that occurred prior to the FOX, CNN, and CNBC debates.” Trump’s reversal on Monday came as news to the rest of the campaigns that, having wrested control of the process from the Republican National Committee, had gathered the night before in hopes of presenting a united front to the networks.

The first GOP primary is 90 days from today.