ABC News Smashes Debate Partnership With Trump-Bashing Newspaper
The end of the relatively minor debate partnership between ABC News and the New Hampshire Union Leader would normally be a relatively minor story, but Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump is thickening the plot like a slurry of chicken stock and gold-plated corn starch. The paper had a minor role in ABC’s upcoming Feb. 6 Republican debate, reports Politico, but that all came to an end Sunday, and Donald Trump is taking credit:
ABC is cutting off their partnership with the New Hampshire Union Leader for the Republican primary debate on Feb. 6, an ABC spokesperson has confirmed.
The paper was set to have a co-branding relationship for the debate, though it was going to be a comparatively minor role, without any representative on stage asking questions on behalf of the newspaper. In a series of tweets on Sunday, Trump took credit for ABC’s move, saying he asked for ABC to remove the paper from the debate.
An ABC spokesperson declined to comment on his claims, but ever since the paper’s participation in the December Democratic debate, the relationship with ABC had become strained, at best, a source at ABC with knowledge of the situation said. Adding to the strained relationship, the source said, was the paper’s singling out of one particular candidate, Donald Trump, with front page editorials.
It’s not a surprise that an ABC source would try to assign blame somewhere besides a bow to Donald Trump’s wishes, but Trump and the Union Leader have been in a verbal running gun battle for weeks, and Trump isn’t the only one who is reading the move this way.
The paper’s publisher also seems to feel that way, given his statement on the matter, from Politico:
“We will get over being “severed.” We are amused by ABC apparently just discovering that we write editorials and endorse candidates. We have been doing both for decades and it hasn’t been an issue for ABC or anyone else,” McQuaid wrote. “Between bowing to the DNC and Trump, ABC is more concerned about appeasing the parties and candidates than informing voters. The Union Leader will continue to serve Granite Staters by being a reliable source of information about where candidates stand.”
This season, the paper has given its endorsement to Chris Christie, putting him in the fine company of 2012 NH Union Leader pick Newt Gingrich.
[h/t/ Politico]
