RNC threatens to pull candidates from official presidential debates

The Republican National Committee warned Thursday that it plans to "prohibit future Republican nominees" from participating in presidential debates sponsored by the official Commission on Presidential Debates, CNN reports.

"So long as the CPD appears intent on stonewalling the meaningful reforms necessary to restore its credibility with the Republican Party as a fair and nonpartisan actor, the RNC will take every step to ensure that future Republican presidential nominees are given that opportunity elsewhere," RNC chairwoman Ronna McDaniel wrote in a Thursday letter to the commission.

McDaniel said the RNC will begin the process of "amending the rules" of the Republican party at its upcoming winter meeting, scheduled for February. Such rule changes would reportedly require candidates seeking the party's nomination "to sign a pledge to not participate in any debates" sponsored by the CPD, writes The New York Times.

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The nonprofit commission is officially nonpartisan, but became "a target of former President Donald Trump's ire during the 2020 election," notes NBC News. Republicans have also complained "for nearly a decade" that the CPD's processes favor Democrats, adds the Times. Thursday's letter was merely "an outgrowth of those long-held complaints."