MONTGOMERY, Ala. — The Republican National Committee announced Friday afternoon it was canceling its partnership with NBC for an upcoming GOP Presidential debate after partner network CNBC’s Wednesday debate revealed what many are calling “atrocious” liberal bias.

The questions, which ranged from “what’s your greatest weakness,” to “what should we do about fantasy football,” to “is Donald Trump running a cartoon character campaign,” raised the hackles of every candidate.

Conservative Senator Ted Cruz (TX) earned a large round of applause when he declared, “The questions asked so far in this debate illustrate why the American people don’t trust the media.”

The outcry from candidates and voters alike prompted the Republican party to act.

“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,” wrote RNC Chairman Reince Priebus. “We simply cannot continue with NBC without full consultation with our campaigns.”

Mr. Priebus went on to list the criteria for the debate to which CNBC had agreed and fallen through.

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.

Alabama GOP Chairman Terry Lathan was outspoken throughout the debate and in the days after on Twitter.

GOP Presidential candidates 1 CNBC moderators 0 #CNBCGOPDebate

— Terry Lathan (@ChairmanLathan) October 29, 2015

Even the AP’s chief White House correspondent knows they were awful…#GOPCNBCDebate https://t.co/OZTzbAeJVM — Terry Lathan (@ChairmanLathan) October 29, 2015

Best reply to the #CNBCGOPDebate moderators…pure lightweights. They were terrible-GOP candidates were brilliant! pic.twitter.com/tNAkyvkqox

— Terry Lathan (@ChairmanLathan) October 29, 2015

Lathan told Yellowhammer Friday that the entire situation was “atrocious.”

“NBC has nobody to blame but themselves,” said Lathan. “I think it is delightful that the RNC has decided to take matters into our own hands and push back after the atrocious behavior that CNBC put on display at the last Republican presidential event. The money that we just took out of their mouths should be a message to them and others that we’re not going to sit back and take this sort of behavior from the media. If they don’t like it then they need to respect this process as well the voters’ time.”

Lathan said it was not only she and her fellow colleagues in Republican leadership who were “outraged” by the debate. ”

“We all saw what we saw and heard what we heard. This was not a debate, it was an attack,” she explained. “It’s one reason CNBC’s ratings are so low. Maybe if they’d like higher ratings, which puts more money in their pockets, they will learn to behave themselves. They just could not help it; those people are so liberal they cannot stand it.”

Alabama’s Republican Committeeman Paul Reynolds echoed Chairman Lathan’s sentiments, telling Yellowhammer that the “RNC feels betrayed” by the network.

“It absolutely put common, proper trust in people that had no intention of following through with what they had agreed to verbally… Even though it is good that the RNC is canceling its relationship with NBC I think the overall effect of the night is a very good thing and I was extremely proud to be a Republican by the way the candidates—not one of them, but all of them—stepped to each others’ defense. It was really rewarding.”

Below is the text of the entire letter from RNC Chairman Priebus to NBC Chairman Andrew Lack:

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