“I got an apology, it was very nice, and I appreciated it,” Trump said, speaking to a small group of reporters aboard his private plane Thursday evening before his counter-debate event to raise money for wounded veterans. “And that’s why I was so open to doing something, but by that time it was just too late.”

Trump said he has spoken on the phone “many” times with Fox CEO Roger Ailes over the past few days. “They wanted to have me, and I would have loved to have been there,” Trump said of Fox. “The problem is once you set up this major event, how can I be there?”

Fox, however, released a statement saying Trump had asked for $5 million to do the debate, and disputing his claims that he had had multiple calls from Fox News chairman Roger Ailes. The network said it had merely recognized his issues with a press release it put out appearing to mock Trump: