GOP frontrunner Donald Trump demands that CNN, the host of the next GOP primary debate, pay him $5 million to participate.
“I won’t do the debate unless they pay me five million dollars,” Trump challenged on Monday, saying the $5 million would be donated to veterans.
Trump wrote a letter to CNN’s president Jeff Zucker prior to the September debate saying, “While I refuse to brag, and you know very well, this tremendous increase in viewer interest is due 100 percent to Donald J. Trump.”
Trump’s letter came after the Fox News debate in August had a record 24 million viewers. Trump suggested Zucker should donate some of the profits that CNN was paid from increased advertising rates to veterans groups
Trump’s demand of CNN happened at a campaign rally in Macon, Georgia. “Trump asked the crowd if he should make the payment a condition of his participation in the debate,” noted CBS News.
“You have to tell me because I know what they’re going to say,” Trump stated. “Trump is a chicken.”
According to CBS News, CNN hasn’t commented on Trump’s recent demand. The next GOP primary debate is in Las Vegas, Nevada on December 15.