It appears former President Donald Trump is sticking with his promise to skip the first Republican primary debate of the 2024 cycle, hosted by the Republican National Committee and Fox News Channel this coming Wednesday night. Instead, Trump will sit down for an interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson. The interview will be presented on Twitter, although it isn’t currently clear whether it will stream at the same time as the debate.
The New York Times broke the news, citing multiple people briefed on the matter.
The Times writes:
For weeks, the former president has been quizzing aides, associates and rally crowds about what he should do. Until earlier this week, Mr. Trump had been giving people the impression he was considering a last-minute surprise appearance on Wednesday.
Still, people close to him had said for months that he was unlikely to take part in the first two Republican debates, both of which are sponsored by the Republican National Committee. And Mr. Trump’s apparent decision to skip the first debate of the presidential nominating contest is a major affront to both the R.N.C. and Fox News, which is hosting the event.
Fox News did not immediately respond to a TVNewser request for comment on the Times’ reporting.
Multiple outlets recently reported that Trump hosted Fox News executives Suzanne Scott and Jay Wallace for dinner at his Bedminster, N.J. estate. Scott and Wallace apparently tried their best to convince Trump to participate in the upcoming debate, which will air on their network, walking away from the dinner believing there was “a decent chance” he’d end up participating.
It now appears that is not going to be the case.
All candidates have until Monday evening — 48 hours before the first debate, to meet the RNC’s donor and polling requirements for participation.
As of Friday publication time, nine candidates have met the donor and polling requirements, but just six have signed the RNC’s pledge to support the eventual Republican party nominee for president. We’ll see if any more of the remaining three decide sign the pledge before Monday night, or if Wednesday’s debate will feature the six candidates who have qualified, as of Friday afternoon: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, entrepreneur Vivek Ramawamy, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum. Businessman Perry Johnson officially met all requirements on Friday, per Politico.
Former President Donald Trump, former VP Mike Pence and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie have, as of now, declined to sign the pledge.
Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson currently meets the polling requirement but not the donor requirement, while Miami mayor Francis Suarez and former Texas Republican Rep. Will Hurd currently meet the donor requirement but not the polling requirement for the first debate.