The Democratic Party has announced it will block Fox News from hosting its candidates’ political debates ahead of the US presidential election, citing concerns about the broadcaster’s ties to Donald Trump.

Democratic National Committee (DNC) chairman Tom Perez said a recent New Yorker expose on the “inappropriate relationship” between the president and the right-wing network had cast doubt on its ability to host “fair and neutral” political coverage.

“Therefore, Fox News will not serve as a media partner for the 2020 Democratic primary debates,” he added.

Mr Trump responded with an angry tweet indicating he may boycott certain debates.

“Democrats just blocked Fox News from holding a debate,” he wrote. “Good, then I think I’ll do the same thing with the Fake News Networks and the Radical Left Democrats in the General Election debates!”

Criminals who worked for Trump Show all 5 1 /5 Criminals who worked for Trump Criminals who worked for Trump Michael Cohen Former lawyer for Donald Trump was sentenced to three years in prison on counts involving evading income tax, false disclosure of the hush money paid to Stormy Daniels and another hush money charge Getty Criminals who worked for Trump Paul Manafort Former campaign manager for Trump Manafort was found guilty in February 2018 of five counts of tax fraud, two counts of bank fraud and one count of failure to disclose a foreign bank account. The crimes occurred prior to his appointment in Trump's campaign Getty Criminals who worked for Trump George Papadopoulos Former Trump campaign adviser Papadopoulos pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in October 2017. He had lied about making contact with a professor who claimed that the Russians had dirt on Hillary Clinton. He was sentenced to 14 days in jail Getty Criminals who worked for Trump Michael Flynn Former White House National Security adviser Michael Flynn pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in December 2017. He had lied about conversations that he had with the Russian ambassador to the US during Trump's Presidential campaign. He was not given prison time due to his "significant assistance" to the Mueller investigation Getty Criminals who worked for Trump Rick Gates Deputy chairman of Trump's presidential campaign Gates pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI in February 2018 AFP/Getty

Fox News said it hoped Democrats would reconsider its decision.

The New Yorker report, published on Monday, claimed that Fox News knew about Mr Trump’s alleged affair with pornographic film actor Stormy Daniels during the 2016 election, but killed the story because the broadcaster’s owner Rupert Murdoch wanted him to win.

The article, by veteran journalist Jane Mayer, also cited unnamed sources who claimed Mr Trump was fed questions ahead of a Fox-sponsored debate in 2015 – a charge the network strongly denied.

An expert in presidential studies quoted in the story described Fox News as the "closest we've come to having state TV".

Fox is the America’s most-watched cable TV network, with many of its viewers avid fans of Mr Trump.

US presidential debates are usually broadcast by networks who secure exclusive rights.

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Fox was among the broadcasters who pitched to host one of the 12 Democratic primaries currently scheduled.

Bill Sammon, senior vice-president and managing editor of Fox's Washington bureau, said he hoped the party would reconsider the ban and allow a debate moderated by its hosts Chris Wallace, Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum.