Bush: RNC wrong to drop National Review from debate

Republican presidential candidate Jeb Bush on Friday criticized the Republican National Committee for disinviting conservative magazine the National Review from a debate next month.

“I just think it was the wrong thing to do,” the former Florida governor said on Fox News’s “America’s Newsroom.” “The National Review is a cherished conservative mouthpiece. It’s been in existence for two generations.”

The RNC’s move came after the magazine released an issue featuring a slew of conservative voices critical of GOP front-runner Donald Trump.

{mosads}Bush said the publication is “just telling the truth” about Trump’s liberal positions.

“Donald Trump needs to defend why he was supportive of Hillary Clinton and Bill Clinton, why he gave money to the foundation, why he gave money to her campaign,” Bush added. 

He also said the real estate tycoon was “anti-Second Amendment” and pro-abortion rights. 

His strong defense of the magazine came after Bush sent a tweet Thursday evening saying he wanted to “welcome to the fight” the publication’s writers, which prompted some flack from its staff.

National Review was slated to be among the conservative media partners for the GOP’s Feb. 25 debate in Houston, but the RNC announced it had disinvited the magazine for its “Against Trump” issue.

“A debate moderator can’t have a predisposition,” RNC spokesman Sean Spicer told BuzzFeed.

Publisher Jack Fowler wrote in a post on the National Review’s website that staff “expected this was coming” after it planned the anti-Trump issue, which included a critical editorial and 22 essays from prominent conservatives.

Trump ripped the magazine as a “failing publication” after learning about the special issue.