The Republican National Committee on Friday pulled out of a planned Feb. 26 debate with NBC News amidst a revolt by candidates after Wednesday’s CNBC debate. 
 
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 "While debates are meant to include tough questions and contrast candidates’ visions and policies for the future of America, CNBC’s moderators engaged in a series of 'gotcha' questions, petty and mean-spirited in tone, and designed to embarrass our candidates," RNC Chairman Reince Priebus wrote in a letter to NBC News Chairman Andrew Lack. 
 
 Since CNBC is an NBC Universal property, "We are suspending the partnership with NBC News” for its Feb. 26 debate. 
 
 Priebus’s email panned CNBC for "inaccurate or downright offensive" questions, specifically singling out a question to Donald Trump Donald John TrumpRand's reversal advances Pompeo New allegations could threaten Trump VA pick: reports President Trump puts on the pageantry for Macron’s visit MORE, who was asked whether he was running a "comic book" version of a presidential campaign. 
 
 "What took place Wednesday night was not an attempt to give the American people a greater understanding of our candidates’ policies and ideas. 
 
 Debates can mean big money for networks, which charge premium prices to advertise for the event. CNBC reportedly charged about $250,000 for a 30-second ad during Wednesday night's debate — similar to reported prices for the previous CNN debate. 
 
 The decision is the RNC’s response to the rumbling of complaints that bubbled over during the debate, when Sen. Ted Cruz Rafael (Ted) Edward CruzAfter Dems stood against Pompeo, Senate’s confirmation process needs a revamp Cruz's Dem challenger slams Time piece praising Trump Race for Republican Speaker rare chance to unify party for election MORE (Texas) and other bashed the moderators for political bias and unfair questions. Immediately after the debate, former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush’s campaign manager confronted the network backstage over how little time his candidate received. 
 
 GOP front-runner Donald Trump came out in support of the RNC’s decision Friday afternoon. 
 
 "The campaign supports the RNC’s decision to suspend the debate on February 26th due to the total lack of substance and respect exhibited during Wednesday’s night’s debate," Trump's campaign said in a statement. "We look forward to pursuing alternatives along with the RNC to ensure candidates are given ample opportunity to outline their vision for the future of our country." 
 
 A spokesperson for Ben Carson said the campaign has “no objections to the decision,” but still wants to see changes to the process to ensure the debates are “about informing the public and not about network ratings.” 
 
 Some campaigns are still set to meet this weekend to air their grievances and determine what other steps might be taken to avoid issues in future debates. 
 
 The RNC has tried to take more of a leading role in debates after 2012, slicing the number of debates to about one-third of the contests from that cycle. 
 
 While the editorial decisions, specifically debate questions, are up to the media organizations, it has control over the logistics and ultimately whether the debate gets its blessing. 
 
 But that hasn’t stopped complaints about the criteria in each of the three debates—Fox News chose to lower the qualifications for its undercard debate and CNN expanded the criteria to include Carly Fiorina, both decisions amid criticism. And the pushback from the campaigns on CNBC's debate hasn't relented since late Wednesday night. 
 
 In his letter to NBC, Priebus wrote, "I have tremendous respect for the First Amendment and freedom of the press. However, I also expect the media to host a substantive debate on consequential issues important to Americans. CNBC did not." 
 
 NBC responded to the RNC's decision in an email statement Friday afternoon saying, “This is 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.” 
 
 A source with NBC pointed out that NBC News had no editorial control over the debate. Lack’s corporate bio says that he only oversees NBC News and MSNBC. CNBC is a separate property under the NBC Universal umbrella. 
 
 The RNC still plans to hold a debate on that date that includes National Review, a conservative publication that partnered with NBC for the upcoming debate. 
 
 The decision to pull out of the NBC debate was met with mixed reviews from RNC veterans. 
 
 Jim Nicholson, a former RNC chairman during the 2000 election, applauded Priebus’ decision and told The Hill that the “RNC ought to continue to use their megaphone to try to get these networks and moderators to have the same set of standards.” 
 
 “That’s a pretty big stick because those debates have been very well watched, so the advertising time is very valuable to the networks,” Nicholson said of the threat of pulling out of another debate. 
 
 As far as the candidates, he added, their leverage lies in uniting together if they want to push for substantive changes to future debate criteria. 
 
 “They are the strongest when they act collectively,” he said, adding that Donald Trump and Ben Carson won their demands to have opening and closing statements, as well as a two-hour time limit on the debate, after threatening to pull out of CNBC’s debate. 
 
 That win was short-lived, however, as Priebus' letter notes that the network eschewed the opening statement to instead ask candidates about their weaknesses. 
 
 But former RNC chairman Michael Steele, who has clashed with Priebus in the past, said the move to suspend the partnership with NBC would do nothing ameliorate the frustration candidates have with the debate process as a whole. 
 
 “This doesn’t solve the problem,” Steele said. “The original idea was for the RNC to have more control over the process but now the candidates are already making their move and it’s too late.” 
 
 “I don’t think it’s a bold move,” he added. “They’re trying to appease the candidates who are already pissed off at the process they created. What they’ve got to do is look forward and determine the style of debate they want and who is going to be up there for it, rather than just reacting to what happened with CNBC, which was abhorrent.” ||||| RNC chairman Reince Priebus wrote that CNBC failed to guarantee relatively equal speaking time for the candidates. | AP Photo RNC suspends partnership with NBC 
 
 The RNC has suspended plans to partner with NBC News for a February debate, citing a “bad faith” performance by CNBC in Wednesday night’s meeting of the candidates. 
 
 “The CNBC network is one of your media properties, and its handling of the debate was conducted in bad faith,” RNC chairman Reince Priebus wrote in a letter to NBC chairman Andrew Lack on Friday. “We understand that NBC does not exercise full editorial control over CNBC’s journalistic approach. However, the network is an arm of your organization, and we need to ensure there is not a repeat performance.” 
 
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 During and after Wednesday night’s debate, candidates and GOP officials lashed out at CNBC for the handling of the debate format and their line of questioning. 
 
 The February forum -- scheduled for Feb. 26, at the University of Houston -- was the only Republican primary debate set to be co-hosted by a Hispanic news organization, with National Review as the conservative media partner. Priebus said a debate will still occur on that date, and National Review will still be a part of it, but he did not say whether another Spanish-language media organization will be involved. The relationship between the two organizations is not necessarily dead, and NBC News said in a statement they plan to work with the RNC to resolve their issues. 
 
 "This is a disappointing development. However, along with our debate partners at Telemundo, we will work in good faith to resolve this matter with the Republican Party," NBC News said in a statement. 
 
 Immediately after the CNBC debate, Priebus issued a harsh statement calling CNBC’s handling “disappointing” and campaigns began organizing to meet up and plan a way to take control of future debates. The campaigns are aiming to agree on a list of demands that they will submit to the RNC, which plans to make those demands to the networks for future debates. 
 
 In his letter on Friday, Priebus argued that CNBC assured the committee that the debate would focus on substantive policy issues like jobs and taxes, but he said the network failed on that count. He also said it failed to guarantee relatively equal speaking time for the candidates. 
 
 "While debates are meant to include tough questions and contrast candidates’ visions and policies for the future of America, CNBC’s moderators engaged in a series of 'gotcha' questions, petty and mean-spirited in tone, and designed to embarrass our candidates,” Priebus wrote in the letter to NBC. "What took place Wednesday night was not an attempt to give the American people a greater understanding of our candidates’ policies and ideas." 
 
 In the middle of the CNBC-hosted GOP debate on Wednesday, RNC chief strategist and spokesman Sean Spicer and chief of staff Katie Walsh approached CNBC officials about the amount of speaking time candidates were getting. 
 
 "Several campaigns had a concern about time allotments, we approached CNBC on multiple occasions to give us a read out of times as they promised and they refused," Spicer said in a statement. 
 
 A CNBC employee who was involved in putting on the debate and with direct knowledge of the conversations, said Spicer and Walsh approached CNBC during the debate, saying they were concerned about time allotments, but that Bush was the only campaign mentioned by name. 
 
 The same complaint had come directly from the Bush team, as campaign manager Danny Diaz confronted CNBC producers during the debate about Bush’s speaking time. 
 
 Steve Duprey, a New Hampshire Republican committeeman who chairs the RNC’s Debates Committee, said his panel voted unanimously to suspend NBC based on two complaints: unfair time distribution among the candidates and the “snarky and condescending” tone of the moderators’ questions. 
 
 “No network should be proud of that debate,” he said in an interview. 
 
 Duprey said Republicans have been frustrated by networks’ crowing about how much money they’re making off of the debates. 
 
 “I think but for the candidates speaking up and the RNC stepping in, CNBC might have tried to make it a three hour debate because they were making money,” he said. 
 
 He added that the networks have been too plain about their intent to get the candidates to attack each other. 
 
 “They’re trying to make it like the Ali-Frazier fight,” he said. But he also noted that the nearly universal panning of CNBC’s performance might be enough of a warning to other networks to keep the questions high-minded. 
 
 “I don’t think anybody, our candidates, our party or a network wants to have a debate that is so poorly perceived in the public eye than the one that just happened,” he said. 
 
 The RNC is under pressure to show that it has teeth and can seriously negotiate on behalf of the campaigns. In the days since the CNBC debate Priebus, Spicer, and Walsh have been calling the campaigns to hear out their complaints. Yet some campaigns still aren’t convinced the RNC can work effectively on their behalf. 
 
 One good example for why they feel this way: In the weeks leading up to the CNBC debate, there were intense behind-the-scenes discussions between the campaigns, the RNC, and CNBC over the network’s plan to not include opening and closing statements. Donald Trump and Ben Carson both threatened to pull out of the debate unless the event was under two hours and included opening and closing statements. CNBC ultimately backed off, telling the RNC – which was negotiating on the campaigns’ behalf - it would allow an open-ended opening statement and a closing statement. 
 
 Though CNBC and NBC are partners and some NBC staff such as political director Chuck Todd had input, CNBC handled the debate on its own. After Wednesday night, some CNBC staffers were left wondering if more input from NBC’s politics team would have led to a better result. 
 
 Asked for comment, CNBC spokesperson Brian Steel gave the same statement CNBC gave as the criticism of the debate started pouring in on Wednesday: "People who want to be the leader of the free world should be able to answer tough questions," Steel said. 
 
 Sources at Fox Business Network, the hosts of the next GOP debate on Nov. 10, said they have not been contacted by the RNC or any of the campaigns regarding debate format but that they weren't concerned. They pointed to positive reviews of the first GOP debate, hosted by Fox News, and noted that though it's Fox Business' first debate, viewers and the candidates can expect the same results next month with moderators Maria Bartiromo and Neil Cavuto. 
 
 Alex Isenstadt contributed to this report. ||||| Mr. Andrew Lack 
 
 Chairman, NBC News 
 
 30 Rockefeller Plaza 
 
 New York, New York 10112 
 
 Dear Mr. Lack, 
 
 I write to inform you that pending further discussion between the Republican National Committee (RNC) and our presidential campaigns, we are suspending the partnership with NBC News for the Republican primary debate at the University of Houston on February 26, 2016. The RNC’s sole role in the primary debate process is to ensure that our candidates are given a full and fair opportunity to lay out their vision for America’s future. We simply cannot continue with NBC without full consultation with our campaigns. 
 
 The CNBC network is one of your media properties, and its handling of the debate was conducted in bad faith. We understand that NBC does not exercise full editorial control over CNBC’s journalistic approach. However, the network is an arm of your organization, and we need to ensure there is not a repeat performance. 
 
 CNBC billed the debate as one that would focus on “the key issues that matter to all voters—job growth, taxes, technology, retirement and the health of our national economy.” That was not the case. Before the debate, the candidates were promised an opening question on economic or financial matters. That was not the case. Candidates were promised that speaking time would be carefully monitored to ensure fairness. That was not the case. Questions were inaccurate or downright offensive. The first question directed to one of our candidates asked if he was running a comic book version of a presidential campaign, hardly in the spirit of how the debate was billed. 
 
 While debates are meant to include tough questions and contrast candidates’ visions and policies for the future of America, CNBC’s moderators engaged in a series of “gotcha” questions, petty and mean-spirited in tone, and designed to embarrass our candidates. What took place Wednesday night was not an attempt to give the American people a greater understanding of our candidates’ policies and ideas. 
 
 I have tremendous respect for the First Amendment and freedom of the press. However, I also expect the media to host a substantive debate on consequential issues important to Americans. CNBC did not. 
 
 While we are suspending our partnership with NBC News and its properties, we still fully intend to have a debate on that day, and will ensure that National Review remains part of it. 
 
 I will be working with our candidates to discuss how to move forward and will be in touch. 
 
 Sincerely, 
 
 Reince Priebus 
 
 Chairman, Republican National Committee 
 
 GOP 
 
 RNC Announcements
– NBC better get its fill of Donald Trump when he hosts Saturday Night Live next month because it sounds like the network won't be seeing him—or any of his fellow candidates—at its GOP debate, the Hill reports. The Republican National Committee has suspended ties with NBC ahead of the network's scheduled Feb. 26 debate over continuing anger about how this week's debate on CNBC was handled. "CNBC network is one of your media properties, and its handling of the debate was conducted in bad faith," RNC chairman Reince Priebus wrote in a letter to NBC Friday. Priebus characterized the CNBC debate as petty, mean-spirited, and purposefully embarrassing for the candidates. "CNBC billed the debate as one that would focus on 'the key issues that matter to all voters—job growth, taxes, technology, retirement, and the health of our national economy,'" Priebus writes in the letter. Instead, he says CNBC focused on "gotcha" questions that were "inaccurate or downright offensive." The RNC still plans on holding a debate Feb. 26 and will partner with the conservative National Review, which was already a co-host of the original debate. It's not clear whether it would be televised. Politico notes that the "relationship between the two organizations is not necessarily dead," and NBC promised to "work in good faith to resolve this matter." The announcement comes on the heels of news that individual campaigns were planning to meet this weekend to discuss a "revolt" against debate hosts and the RNC itself.