Scott Morgan/Reuters
Fox News issued a statement Tuesday night in response to Donald Trump’s announcement that he is planning to skip the network’s upcoming Republican presidential primary debate in Des Moines, Iowa. “It should be clear to the American public by now that this is rooted in one thing—Megyn Kelly, whom he has viciously attacked since August,” the network said of Trump’s decision. The GOP frontrunner announced his plans to bail after Fox News refused his request to remove Kelly as a debate moderator. The statement went on to say Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski threatened Kelly, noting that she had a “‘rough couple of days after the last debate’ and he ‘would hate to have her go through that again.’” Fox continued that Trump is still welcome at the debate and would be treated fairly, but the network refuses to “give in to terrorizations toward any of our employees.”