Republican frontrunner Donald Trump said Friday that Fox News host Megyn Kelly should not be allowed to host Thursday's GOP debate, alleging she had demonstrated "bias" and had a "conflict of interest."
The remark came in a tweet to Trump's 5.7 million followers.
Fox News, however, wasn't convinced and fired back in a statement Saturday evening.
"Megyn Kelly has no conflict of interest," a network spokesperson said. "Donald Trump is just trying to build up the audience for Thursday's debate, for which we thank him."
The billionaire businessman has been at odds with Kelly since the first Republican debate last year. Trump alleged the questions from the Fox News moderators, chiefly Kelly, were unfair and aimed at sinking his candidacy. He subsequently unleashed a weeks-long attack on the network host.
AP Photo/John Minchillo
For her part, Kelly has refused to return fire against Trump. She briefly addressed the "dust up" for a few minutes on her program and in an interview with Charlie Rose.
Trump's charge of bias comes the same week Kelly featured a Frank Luntz focus group on her program that offered him glowing praise and hosted his spokeswoman on her program.
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