Donald Trump made clear in a press conference in Marshalltown, Iowa, that he would not participate in a Fox News debate after the network sent out a press release that he viewed as derogatory.

His campaign released a statement saying he will not be participating in the debate and will instead host an event in Iowa to raise money for “the Veterans and Wounded Warriors, who have been treated so horribly by our all talk, no action politicians.”

“Like running for office as an extremely successful person, this takes guts and it is the kind mentality our country needs in order to Make America Great Again,” the statement continued.

Trump’s campaign manager Corey Lewandowski told the Guardian matter-of-factly: “He’s not participating in the Fox News debate.” Lewandowski said that this didn’t mean Trump was avoiding press scrutiny. “Look, he’s the clear frontrunner, he’s been in six debates already, answered more questions from the media than any other candidate on the stage combined.”

The Fox News press release that irked Trump and led to his withdrawal read: “We learned from a secret back channel that the Ayatollah and Putin both intend to treat Donald Trump unfairly when they meet with him if he becomes president – a nefarious source tells us that Trump has his own secret plan to replace the Cabinet with his Twitter followers to see if he should even go to those meetings.”

Trump derided it as “a wise guy press release . . . done by some PR person along with Roger Ailes”. He said that after seeing the release, “I said ‘bye bye’ ” to the debate.”

“They can’t toy with me like they toy with everybody else” Trump said of the news channel, long considered a kingmaker in GOP politics.

Trump had long been cagey about participating in Thursday’s debate because of adversarial questioning from anchor Megyn Kelly in the first debate. Her questioning led Trump to say that he thought “there was blood coming out of her wherever”, a comment widely believed to refer to menstruation. In his press conference on Tuesday, Trump merely called Kelly a lightweight.

Earlier in the day, prior to the Fox News press release, Trump asked his followers on Twitter if he should participate in the debate.

With Trump’s absence from the main debate stage, only seven Republican candidates will be present on Thursday night. Ted Cruz will take Trump’s place at the center of the stage and he will be joined by Ben Carson, Marco Rubio, Chris Christie, Jeb Bush, John Kasich and Rand Paul.

The press conference didn’t just focus on the debate. Trump defended himself from attacks from social conservatives on his record on abortion. He insisted “I’m pro life.” However, when asked by the Guardian if he considered Plan B to be abortion, a stance held by many social conservatives including Ted Cruz, Trump said: “I will give you an answer to that sometime in the future.”

In response to Trump’s decision not to participate in the debate, Cruz challenged his rival to a one-on-one “mano a mano” debate in the next week before the Iowa caucuses. While Cruz had previously been close to Trump, he had contempt in his voice as he issued his challenge during an interview with talk radio host Mark Levin.

Cruz said that Trump’s feud with Kelly was a sign of weakness: “If he thinks Megyn Kelly is so scary, what exactly would he do with Vladimir Putin? I promise you Putin is a lot more scary than Megyn Kelly.” The senator from Texas added that Trump needed to “explain how he is prepared to be commander in chief if he is terrified of a television host” and made clear that if Trump joined Cruz in a one-on-one debate, he could even “name his own moderator”.

Moments later, Cruz took the stage at a town hall-style event in Fairfield, where he immediately tore into Trump’s reluctance to participate in the debate.

After breaking the news of his primary competitor’s debate announcement to the roughly 150 Iowans gathered, Cruz joked that Trump was “a fragile soul [whose] hair might stand” if faced with tough questions.

The senator also wielded his jab that Trump was “apparently really, really scared of Megyn Kelly” before imploring the real estate mogul to “at least respect the great men and women of Iowa” by showing up.

“If someone did that – didn’t show up at the interview – you know what you’d say? You’re fired!” Cruz exclaimed.

The crowd, which applauded him throughout his riff, roared in agreement.

Trump’s campaign did not immediately reply to a request from the Guardian for comment on Cruz’s challenge.

(The Guardian)