GOP presumptive presidential nominee Donald Trump has decided not to debate Bernie Sanders, releasing a statement that “it would be inappropriate to debate the second-place candidate in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination.”

For days the talks of the two outsiders debating amongst captivated the political world as every major network reached out to both campaigns with hopes of hosting the debate. Trump said he is up to debating Sanders after Democratic front-runner Hillary Clinton declined to do so before the June 7 California primary. The invitation to debate Sanders was offered by late night Host Jimmy Kimmel and Trump agreed to participate only if the host networks would donate millions to charity.

During his first press conference after it was announced he clinched the delegate count for the GOP nomination, Trump set a high condition price of $10 Million to be donated to women’s health cause charity for participating due to “sky-high ratings” of the prime-time event. Sanders accepted on twitter, but added the venue should be done in “the biggest stadium possible.”

I am delighted that @realDonaldTrump has agreed to debate. Let’s do it in the biggest stadium possible.

— Bernie Sanders (@BernieSanders) May 26, 2016

After 48 hours of speculations of a possible debate to take place, Trump decided to wait on debating whoever “the first place finisher” would be.

“Based on the fact that the Democratic nominating process is totally rigged and Crooked Hillary Clinton and Deborah Wasserman Schultz will not allow Bernie Sanders to win, and now that I am the presumptive Republican nominee, it seems inappropriate that I would debate the second place finisher,” Trump said in the statement. “Likewise, the networks want to make a killing on these events and are not proving to be too generous to charitable causes, in this case, women’s health issues. Therefore, as much as I want to debate Bernie Sanders – and it would be an easy payday – I will wait to debate the first place finisher in the Democratic Party, probably Crooked Hillary Clinton, or whoever it may be.”

Sanders quickly slammed Trump for backing out, calling Trump “will-he-or-won’t he act” position on debating him to argue his point.

“In recent days, Donald Trump has said he wants to debate, he doesn’t want to debate, he wants to debate and, now, he doesn’t want to debate,” Sanders said in a statement. “Given that there are several television networks prepared to carry this debate and donate funds to charity, I hope that he changes his mind once again and comes on board.”

“There is a reason why in virtually every national and statewide poll I am defeating Donald Trump, sometimes by very large margins and almost always by far larger margins than Secretary Clinton. There is a reason for that reality and the American people should be able to see it up front in a good debate and a clash of ideas.”

During his rally in Fresno, California, Trump pointed out he wanted to debate Bernie but wouldn’t do so since the Vermont senator is in second place.

“If you’re in first place, you don’t want to really debate a guy who’s in second place,” Trump said.

About the Author

Mona Salama is a PolitiChicks political reporter based in New York City covering politics and NYPD. She reports broadly on the 2016 campaign trail from the road and at home. Prior to joining PolitiChicks, Mona started with Wayne Dupree's WAAR where she covered NY politics, 2014 mid-term elections, and the NYPD. In 2015, DC Gazette considers Mona as one of the 20 rising Conservative stars. She was cited as "generally one of the most stunning women in political commentary with a huge future ahead of her, we’re pretty sure Mona Salama will soon easily be the next Andrea Tantaros and a common conservative household name." Currently she is finishing her Masters, all while at the same time covering the 2016 Presidential race, in Public Policy at John Jay College in New York City. Mona can be followed on twitter at @MonaSalama_ and email: [email protected]