RNC Formally Drops NBC, CNN from 2016 Debates

At its Summer meeting in Boston on Friday, the RNC formally adopted a resolution excluding NBC and CNN from hosting or moderating Republican primary debates during the 2016 Presidential campaign. The vote comes after RNC Chair Reince Priebus urged the networks to cancel their plans to air films celebrating the life of Hillary Clinton. Clinton is widely expected to run for President. 

“Your credibility as a supposedly unbiased news network will most certainly be jeopardized by the decision to show political favoritism and produce an extended commercial for Secretary Clinton’s nascent campaign,” Priebus wrote to CNN in early August. He also sent a similar letter to NBC.

RNC’s concerns about the Hillary Clinton films were echoed by unlikely allies. NBC chief political reporter Chuck Todd called the planned Clinton films a “nightmare” for the network. MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell criticized the plans for the film and former Obama spokesman Robert Gibbs called it a “terrible idea.”

The vote to adopt the resolution was passed by a unanimous vote.