Washington (CNN) Did Fox News apologize to Donald Trump right before Thursday night's GOP debate? Or did the television network simply let him vent?

The two sides can't seem to agree on what happened. Trump told CNN that an unnamed Fox executive "apologized" to him for a mocking statement the network issued two days before the debate.

Trump said Fox "could not have been nicer" as it tried to woo him back into attending the debate. But he stuck to his plan of holding a competing event aimed at raising funds for veterans' organizations.

"I was treated very unfairly by Fox. Since then they've been excellent, they've been very nice, but it's too late," Trump told CNN's Brianna Keilar in an interview aboard Trump's private plane.

Fox heard Trump's remarks and fired back in a statement. The network suggested that it didn't apologize outright -- instead it, "acknowledged his concerns about a satirical observation we made in order to quell the attacks on Megyn Kelly, and prevent her from being smeared any further."

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