ABC News anchor George Stephanopoulos was never going to moderate a Republican primary debate, Republican National Committee Chairman Reince Priebus told Fox News Thursday.
Stephanopoulos earlier Thursday
bowed out as moderator amid controversy over his $75,000 in donations to the Clinton Foundation over the past three years. But Priebus, appearing on Fox News Channel's
"Hannity," said it didn't matter; he has long stated publicly that the former aide to President Bill Clinton would not be involved in a GOP debate.
"How can I as chairman of the national party have the former employee of the Clintons, who's running on the other side, be the person on the stage deposing our candidate?" he said. "This was a done deal as far as I was concerned."
Priebus in the past has said he did not want to see a repeat of 2012 when a large field of GOP candidates went through a seemingly endless string of debates that many believe hurt the party's chances. Priebus says only a certain number of debates will be sanctioned by the party, and any candidate who participates in an unsanctioned debate will be penalized.
Part of the criticism in 2012 also stemmed for Stephanopoulos asking Mitt Romney, the GOP's eventual nominee, what many considered a strange question about whether he supported limiting contraception for women. The question was credited with creating the "Republican War on Women" meme that dogged candidates in the party into the 2014 midterms.
"This is why we have to take control of these debates," Priebus said. "And this is also another opportunity for us to tell everyone that we're going to be watching the coverage out there, and we're going to hold the media accountable to their coverage on Hillary Clinton."
One declared GOP candidate, Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul, told Hannity he hasn't appeared on Stephanopoulos' Sunday morning show "This Week" for about a year because he could end up in a contest against Hillary Clinton if both win their party nominations.
"We have made the decision that he's too close to the Clintons to really give an objective interview," Paul said.
Sen.
Mike Lee of Utah also has said he will not appear on the show unless Stephanopoulos recuses himself from covering the 2016 presidential race.