Republican National Committee chairman Reince Priebus excoriated CNBC moderators for creating a "hostile environment" during Wednesday's third GOP presidential debate, accusing the team of lobbing "one personal low blow after another" at the contenders.
"I was proud of our candidates for standing up to a pretty hostile environment," Priebus told reporters following the two-hour debate – during which Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz
also took sharp aim at what they termed liberal media bias.
"I think it was one gotcha question, one personal low blow after the other," Priebus said.
"It's like they tried to design a Rubik's Cube for every question to take the worst element, I think, of what the moderators and what the media should bring to the table."
"And all I can tell you is that while I'm pretty much proud of our candidates for pretty much sticking together, I'm very disappointed in the moderators and I'm very disappointed with CNBC," he added.
His videotaped reaction was posted by
Mediaite.
The RNC chairman also tweeted out his disappointment.
And he later distributed a withering statement scolding the cable network, saying the "performance by the CNBC moderators… did a disservice to their network, our candidates, and voters."
"Our diverse field of talented and exceptionally qualified candidates did their best to share ideas for how to reinvigorate the economy and put Americans back to work despite deeply unfortunate questioning from CNBC," he said.
"One of the great things about our party is that we are able to have a dynamic exchange about which solutions will secure a prosperous future, and I will fight to ensure future debates allow for a more robust exchange. CNBC should be ashamed of how this debate was handled.”
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