Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump suggested Monday night that CNN might need to pay him $5 million to show up at the next GOP presidential debate, which will be hosted by the news network on Dec. 15 in Las Vegas.
Trump floated the idea during a campaign rally in Georgia, saying that he would donate the money to wounded service members or veterans, reported The Hill.
"How about I tell CNN, who doesn't treat me properly, I'm not gonna do the next debate, OK," Trump said. "How about we do this for CNN: I won't do the debate unless they pay me five million dollars, all of which money goes to the Wounded Warriors or goes to vets?"
Trump said CNN has been treating him unfairly with its coverage of his recent meeting with black pastors and justified his $5 million appearance fee by pointing out how big of a ratings draw he has been for the networks that host the GOP debates.
The billionaire real estate mogul made a similar demand before the Republican debate hosted by CNN in September, when he sent a letter to CNN President Jeff Zucker asking him to donate all advertising profits from the debate to veterans' charities, notes Politico. CNN never officially responded to Trump, and he ended up participating anyway.
It's not clear if Trump will follow through with his latest threat either, because CNN would call him "chicken," Trump told the audience.
"So, with CNN, here's what they'll say: 'Trump's chicken. He's afraid to debate. He's afraid to debate,'" Trump said. "One thing I'm not is chicken, OK?"
In his typical Trumpian fashion, he then proceeded to criticize eight of his fellow Republican rivals over the course of about five minutes.
Gov. John Kasich, Gov. Bobby Jindal, former Gov. Rick Perry, Sen. Lindsey Graham, former Gov. Jeb Bush, Sen. Marco Rubio and Gov. Chris Christie were all included in Trump's diatribe, while Sen. Ted Cruz was given more of a warning, according to NBC News.
"There's only one way to get to the top and it's all through Trump, let's face it," he said.
