Donald Trump and Ben Carson Threaten to Boycott The Next GOP Debate on CNBC (Update: CNBC Caves to Demands)

TRUMP AND CARSON THREATEN TO SKIP THE CNBC DEBATE …

The two outsider, non-establishment GOP candidates, Donald Trump and Ben Carson, have threatened to boycott the upcoming GOP debates on CNBC after the networked changed the rules in extending the debate time from 2 to 3 hours.The problem does not just seem to be the extension of the the time, but instead it appears that CNBC wants to add extra ad time so to make money. REALLY? CNBC is the business channel arm of the NBC, but looking ti make a buck off of what is supposed to be an informative Q&A with presidential hopefuls?

The political Odd Couple take it to CNBC

What would a GOP presidential primary debate be if it did not have the two front running candidates? Without Trump and Carson, CNBC can expect to have an audience of whatever the total count make up is the remaining candidates family and friends.

Donald Trump and Ben Carson are both threatening to boycott the next Republican presidential debate if CNBC, who is hosting the event, and the Republican National Committee do not change the stated format of the event.

“Neither Mr. Trump or Dr. Carson will participate in your debate if it is longer than 120 minutes including commercials and does not include opening and closing statements,” the letter, obtained exclusively by NBC News and signed by both candidates, reads.

They take issue with CNBC’s plans for a debate that doesn’t include opening and closing statements, and runs two hours plus up to another 16 minutes in commercial breaks. According to Politico, CNBC distributed a memo outlining these plans that indicated all candidates had agreed to them.

In the letter, the candidates write that “neither of our campaigns agreed to either the length you propose or your ban on opening or closing statements. In fact, neither of our campaigns were even consulted.”

UPDATE I: CNBC Caves to Trump and Carson debate Demands.

CNBC has agreed to limit its Republican primary debate later this month to two hours, acquiescing to the demands of Donald Trump and other GOP campaigns, CNN has confirmed.

A source with knowledge of the decision said the Republican National Committee was putting in calls to the campaigns on Friday morning to inform them of the new format, which will cap the debate to two hours, including commercials.

Early Friday morning, Trump tweeted that CNBC had agreed to limit the Oct. 28 debate to two hours.

“Fantastic news for all, especially the millions of people who will be watching!” he wrote.