GOP debate canceled after Trump, Kasich pull out 'I think it's enough,' Trump says about the primetime debates.

Monday's Republican presidential primary debate has been canceled after GOP front-runner Donald Trump declined to participate, citing a scheduling conflict.

"On Feb. 20, the Republican National Committee announced that a GOP presidential primary debate would be held on March 21 in Salt Lake City. They offered that debate to Fox News Channel to host, provided there were enough candidates actively campaigning," Fox News Executive Vice President Michael Clemente said in a statement.


"This morning, Donald Trump announced he would not be participating in the debate. Shortly afterward, John Kasich's campaign announced that without Trump at the debate, Kasich would not participate. Ted Cruz has expressed a willingness to debate Trump or Kasich — or both. But obviously, there needs to be more than one participant. So the Salt Lake City debate is cancelled," Clemente said.

Trump said earlier on Wednesday that he was scheduled to speak at a conference of the pro-Israel lobbying group AIPAC, and would be skipping the Utah debate.

“Nobody told me about debates. As you saw, I thought the last debate on CNN was the last debate," he said on "Fox & Friends" Wednesday morning.

“I’m doing a major speech in front of a very important group of people that night," Trump said, adding that it had been "scheduled a while ago."

"I think it's enough," he added, about the dozen debates the Republican candidates have participated in so far.

But during an interview on stage directly after CNN's debate last week, Trump acknowledged there were more debates planned and seemed more open to participating. He told anchor Chris Cuomo, "I think they want to do two more debates, and I guess I’m pretty much OK with it," though he added he's "had enough" of the debates.

Sean Spicer, the Republican National Committee's chief strategist, had initially confirmed on Wednesday morning that the debate would go on even without Trump on stage.

But then Ohio Gov. John Kasich's campaign declared that he wouldn't appear without Trump, forgoing the opportunity to debate Texas Sen. Ted Cruz one-on-one.

"Donald Trump's decision to scuttle the Salt Lake City debate is disappointing, but not surprising. His values are out of step with the people of Utah," Kasich's chief strategist John Weaver said on Wednesday. "We had hoped to contrast Governor Kasich's positive inclusive approach to problem solving with Trump's campaign of division. If he changes his mind, we will be there."

The debate had been scheduled for the day before nominating contests in Arizona and Utah.

Trump's announcement aome after he scored a big win on Florida on Tuesday night, knocking Marco Rubio out of the race. But he failed to clinch Ohio, potentially setting the GOP on the path for a brokered convention, with Cruz and Kasich still vying for the nomination.

The real estate mogul has been flirting for days with skipping the upcoming debate, which the RNC had set on Feb. 20. Trump had called last Thursday's debate hosted by CNN "a really nice way to finish off the debate season" and said he was not aware of other upcoming showdowns.

While it's not clear if Trump can reach the 1,237 delegates needed to secure the nomination, he has called on the GOP to unite behind him so that he can take on Hillary Clinton in the general election.

This wouldn't be the first time Trump has skipped a debate. He boycotted the Fox News showdown in Iowa in January, following a feud with Fox News host Megyn Kelly, and subsequently lost the state to Cruz. Trump later said that skipping the debate could have cost him the win.