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RNC suspends NBC partnership for February debate
Responding to the highly criticized Republican primary debate on CNBC Wednesday evening, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus penned an open letter to parent network NBC, calling off their upcoming debate at the University of Houston on February 26, 2016. "The CNBC network is one of your media properties, and its handling of the debate was conducted in bad faith," the letter said. The criticism goes on:
CNBC billed the debate as one that would focus on "the key issues that matter to all voters — job growth, taxes, technology, retirement, and the health of our national economy." That was not the case. Before the debate, the candidates were promised an opening question on economic or financial matters. That was not the case. Candidates were promised that speaking time would be carefully monitored to ensure fairness. That was not the case. Questions were inaccurate or downright offensive. The first question directed to one of our candidates asked if he was running a comic book version of a presidential campaign, hardly in the spirit of how the debate was billed. [RNC]
While Priebus officially suspended the RNC's partnership with NBC News and its properties, his letter notes that the RNC still "fully intends" to host a debate on February 26.