Donald Trump, the billionaire-businessman-turned-Republican-frontrunner, often boasts on the campaign trail about his cunning negotiating skills, promising to best the likes of China, Mexico and Iran to get the most incredible, most tremendous deals.

This week, it was CNBC that got Trump'd.


Under mounting pressure, the network bowed to the demands of Trump and other presidential candidates for the Oct. 28 presidential debate — a decision that capped a flurry of behind-the-scenes negotiations that drew in some of the most powerful figures from the TV network and the Republican Party.

The Republican National Committee, which has been working with CNBC on the format for the debate, to be held in Boulder, Colo., announced on Friday that the program would be capped at a total of two hours and allow for candidates to give opening and closing statements. In recent days, questions about logistics had evolved into a high-stakes tug of war.

Along with several other candidates, Trump, whose celebrity profile drew tens of millions of viewers to the first two GOP primary debates, had threatened to withdraw from the debate because CNBC had initially been planning to not allow for opening and closings.

The network was also planning for a debate that, including commercials, would extend past the two-hour mark; last month, Trump loudly and repeatedly complained about the three-hour-long length of the GOP debate at the Ronald Reagan Library.

"Three hours is too much, too long for a debate," Trump said the morning after the debate, during which he had faded into the background for long stretches. "How long is 'Gone with the Wind'?"

The skirmish was the latest for a party that, as it grapples with a large and rambunctious field of primary contenders, has struggled to maintain an orderly debate process. Prior to the last debate, Carly Fiorina had protested that, because of the polling criteria used to determine entry for the main stage, she was being unfairly relegated to the “undercard” forum for lower-tiered candidates. Debate organizers relented, allowing Fiorina to participate in the primetime showing with top-polling contenders.

“All debates include backchannel conversations between the RNC, the campaigns, and the networks,” said Sean Spicer, the RNC’s chief strategist and spokesman. “This was no different.”

The flare-up began on Wednesday morning, when the RNC and CNBC held a conference call with GOP campaigns to discuss the planned format for the Boulder debate. During that call, aides to Carson and Rand Paul protested the network’s stipulation that candidates not be allowed to give opening and closing statements. To the campaigns, it was clear why CNBC wouldn’t budge: They wanted a debate that was squarely focused on question and answers — a format, in other words, that would allow more time for more candidate-on-candidate clashes.

On the call, Ed Brookover, a top Carson aide and longtime GOP strategist who formerly worked at the RNC, threatened to take his concerns public and, according to two sources on the call, called CNBC “arrogant.” Chris LaCivita, an aide to Paul, argued that a short opening and closing statement wouldn’t be too much to ask for in a multi-hour program.

After the call wrapped up, the RNC started talks with CNBC. Spicer reached out to Matt Cuddy, the network’s Washington bureau chief; the next morning, RNC Chairman Reince Priebus spoke with CNBC’s president, Mark Hoffman. Then, on Thursday morning, the RNC reached out to the campaigns to arrange another conference call. The purpose: To gauge their “red line” — in other words, whether their objections to the format meant they wouldn’t be willing to attend the debate.

The result was chaos. Soon after the call began, aides to Cruz and Trump said they were considering bailing. LaCivita, meanwhile, went so far as to say that if there weren’t opening or closing statements, CNBC could “go f--- themselves.” Aides to John Kasich and Mike Huckabee questioned why the RNC was holding the call in the first place. Ken McKay, Chris Christie’s campaign manager, was reluctant to talk about his “red line” on an open conference call line. It would soon leak, he reasoned.

Amid the back-and-forth, Christian Ferry, the campaign manager for struggling Lindsey Graham, cracked a joke. If any candidates weren’t willing to show up for the primetime debate, he said, Graham, who’s been relegated to the undercard, would be willing to take their place. There were gales of laughter.

After nearly 30 minutes, Katie Walsh, the RNC’s frustrated chief of staff, abruptly tried to cut the call off. As she did, LaCivita, an aggressive political operative who helped orchestrate the Swift Boat Veterans for Truth attacks on John Kerry in 2004, muttered, “This is unbelievable.”

The food fight was just getting started. That afternoon, aides to Trump and Carson, the two leading candidates in the Republican primary, sent a letter to Cuddy saying that unless CNBC limited the debate to two hours and allowed for opening and closing statements, they would bail. That evening, during an appearance on Fox News, the real estate mogul reiterated the threat.

With things spiraling out of control, Priebus got back in touch with CNBC’s leadership. Thursday evening, he outlined the reasons why opening and closing statements were so important to the Republican candidates. First, he said, candidates wanted an opportunity to express their platform unfiltered. Secondly, he said, some were worried that, without them, they wouldn’t be heard until well into the program.

The network was fine with Trump and Carson’s wish for a debate that would be two hours flat. But what about the sticky matter of opening and closing statements?

The RNC came up with a proposal: Allow for one minute opening and closing statements. After some discussion, CNBC returned with a counter-offer: 30-second opening and closings.

Starting late Thursday evening, RNC officials, including Priebus and Spicer, reached out to campaigns, gauging how they felt about 30-second statements. Again, the RNC wanted to know, what was their red line?

While not all the campaigns were happy with the small time allotment, none were willing to skip the pivotal debate. By Friday afternoon, the committee had reached an agreement with the network. “Very positive discussions with @CNBC about #GOP Debate,” Priebus wrote on his Twitter account.

But none, perhaps, was happier than Trump.

"@CNBC has just agreed that the debate will be TWO HOURS,” he tweeted on Friday. “Fantastic news for all, especially the millions of people who will be watching!"

Hadas Gold contributed to this report.