No opening statements in next GOP debate

Republican presidential candidates will not give opening statements during next month’s Fox Business Network debate, a point of contention among candidates in previous contests, according to a memo reported on by The New York Times.

The network released its rules as the party continues to deal with criticism surrounding Wednesday’s debate that led to the Republican National Committee (RNC) pulling out of an NBC News debate scheduled for February.

{mosads}The Times reports that candidates will have more time to speak — 90 seconds for an answer and a minute to respond if their name is invoked — and will be able to make closing statements. 

Campaigns bristled when CNBC initially said that there wouldn’t be opening or closing statements for Wednesday’s debate. But after Donald Trump and Ben Carson threatened to skip the debate unless those statements were added and the debate was capped at two hours, the network relented. 

However, candidates were not given opening statements as promised, one of the reasons RNC Chairman Reince Priebus cited when he cut ties with NBC News’ future debate. 

Since Wednesday, the GOP campaigns have forcefully pushed back on the process, criticizing the fact that networks have previously presented the debate rules only after the contest was finalized. 

“To date, what occurs is the campaigns agree to debate, and then we get the rules after the agreement, and then we negotiate the rules,” Hogan Gidley, a spokesman for Mike Huckabee, said.

“That’s not going to happen anymore.”

A handful of campaigns are set to meet over the weekend to negotiate a unified front moving forward.

Jonathan Easley contributed.

– Updated at 12:26 p.m. on Saturday.