ERIN BURNETT (HOST): Brian, the statement that I just read a bit of from Fox, is that what set Trump off tonight?
BRIAN STELTER: Apparently so, you know earlier in the day he asked his Twitter followers, should I go to the debate? The poll basically got a fifty-fifty result and up until the last hour Trump had not actually said he was really seriously thinking about skipping this debate, but it must have been the statement this afternoon that really set him off. This statement that was basically mocking him, telling him to grow up. And I can tell you Erin that was written directly by Roger Ailes, the chairman of Fox News, the powerful boss of the Fox News Channel. Ailes is the one organizing this debate of course, ensuring that all the candidates show up, brainstorming the questions with the moderators and the idea that Trump is saying he might not show up, that is throwing off the entire debate into disarray, because after all he is supposed to be center stage.
BURNETT: He certainly is and were you surprised at all by the tone of that press release from Fox? I mean putting aside the whole history here, who is being more childish than whom, that statement is pretty shocking from a news organization.
STELTER: No other news outlet would print a statement like that, but there's no other news outlet like Fox. In some ways Fox exists as a permanent political campaign, as well as a news organization. In this case, I think Fox is trying to make it very very clear they support Megyn Kelly at all costs. If Trump's not on the stage, that's one thing, but Megyn Kelly will be on the stage no matter what.
