"Do you really think that she can be fair at a debate?,” Donald Trump asks about Megyn Kelly. | AP Photo Trump says 'most likely' will not take part in Fox debate

Donald Trump will “most likely” not participate in the Fox News debate Thursday, the Republican poll leader announced on Tuesday.

“Most likely I’m not gonna do the debate,” Trump said during a press conference in Iowa. “I don't know what games Roger Ailes is playing.”


Trump, who was speaking to reporters in Marshalltown before a rally, said that he may have a separate event to raise funds for wounded warriors instead.

"Why should the networks continue getting rich on the debates?" he asked.

Trump's pronouncement came after he released a Twitter poll questioning whether he should attend the debate this week, which elicited thousands of responses — including one from Fox News.

“Megyn Kelly’s really biased against me,” Trump says in an Instagram video posted Tuesday. “She knows that. I know that. Everybody knows that. Do you really think that she can be fair at a debate?”

Trump’s Instagram post has more than 4,000 comments, and the Twitter poll has more than 28,000 votes. But Fox News offered its own retort outside of social media.

“We learned from a secret back channel that the Ayatollah and Putin both intend to treat Donald Trump unfairly when they meet with him if he becomes president — a nefarious source tells us that Trump has his own secret plan to replace the Cabinet with his Twitter followers to see if he should even go to those meetings,” a Fox News spokesperson said in a statement Tuesday.

"I said bye bye," Trump said, calling the response childish during the press conference. "It's time that somebody plays grown up."

He also continued his attacks on Kelly by calling her a "lightweight" and a "third-rate reporter."

Trump slammed Fox’s “pathetic attempt” to boost ratings for the upcoming debate. “Pathetic attempt by @FoxNews to try and build up ratings for the #GOPDebate,” he tweeted on Tuesday afternoon. “Without me they’d have no ratings!”

He also said Fox's snarky comment is playing a role in his reluctance to debate on Thursday, but it's not clear if Trump is bluffing. He's threatened to boycott debates in the past, but has never followed through.

The latest back-and-forth between Fox News and Trump comes after the real estate mogul told ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos in a telephone interview Tuesday that he’s still deciding.

“I think she’s not a professional. I don’t think she’s a very talented person,” he said about Megyn Kelly. “I don’t think she is a good reporter. I think they could do a lot better than that. I love doing the debates. You know, I just do think they should get competent reporters. They shouldn’t use somebody like her. She’s not very good. She’s not very good at what she does, I will tell you that.”

Trump said Kelly treated him unfairly during the first debate in August and has blasted her on multiple occasions via Twitter.

“Sooner or later Donald Trump, even if he's president, is going to have to learn that he doesn't get to pick the journalists — we're very surprised he's willing to show that much fear about being questioned by Megyn Kelly,” a Fox News representative said in a statement Monday night.