WASHINGTON—The Republican National Committee says it’s suspending its partnership with NBC News and its properties and won’t allow the network to co-host a presidential primary debate scheduled for February.
The letter from RNC Chairman Reince Priebus to NBC News chief Andrew Lack comes after this week’s heavily criticized debate on CNBC.
Priebus says the CNBC debate did not focus on economic issues as promised, and that candidates were asked questions that “were inaccurate or downright offensive.”
NBC News, in a statement, called it a “disappointing development. However, along with our debate broadcast partners at Telemundo, we will work in good faith to resolve this matter with the Republican Party.”
The RNC tells NBC it will still hold a debate as scheduled on Feb. 26 with its other planned media partner, National Review.
Even before the decision to break with NBC, several of the GOP campaigns had planned to meet to discuss complaints about how the party’s debates are being run.
