White House Knocks Trump For Backing Out of Debate

— -- The White House took a shot at Donald Trump Wednesday, saying that the president "never backed out of a debate two days before it was scheduled to be held."

The remarks to ABC News' Mary Bruce from White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest, who served as President Obama's Iowa communications director for his 2008 presidential campaign, came after Trump announced his plan to skip the upcoming Fox News GOP debate Wednesday.

Trump said Tuesday he would not participate in the last GOP debate ahead of the Iowa caucuses, after publicly feuding with Fox News debate moderator Megyn Kelly, who he clashed with since the first Fox News debate last August.

“We've seen that, you know, over the last several months that Mr. Trump has repeatedly chosen to kick reporters out of the room for asking tough questions,” he continued. “It appears he's taking that approach to a new level by avoiding those questions entirely.”

Earnest said Republicans voters will ultimately decide if Trump has the temperament to be commander-in-chief.