Former US President Donald Trump confirmed Sunday he will not participate in the first Republican primary debate this week, CNN reports.
Stating that the public already “knows who I am,” Trump wrote on his social media platform: “I will therefore not be doing the debates!”
It was not immediately clear whether Trump meant he will sit out all currently scheduled debates – there is a second GOP primary debate set for September – or any and all future debates.
A Trump adviser told CNN that the former president could still decide to participate in a later primary debate, despite his post.
Trump has told a number of allies that he does not want to debate at the Reagan Library, the location of the second debate, and complained in private conversations that he has never been invited to speak at the venue, blaming, in part, the chairman of the board of trustees, Fred Ryan. Ryan was the chief executive officer of the Washington Post.
Wednesday’s primary debate is the first of the 2024 cycle. For weeks the former president has privately and publicly floated skipping it, given his lead in the polls. Multiple sources familiar with Trump’s plans previously told CNN he is planning to sit for an interview with former Fox News Host Tucker Carlson instead.
Still, Republican officials had been publicly seeking to convince Trump to join the debate stage as recently as Sunday morning.
Hours before Trump posted, RNC chair Ronna McDaniel said she hoped he would debate. “I’m still holding out hope that President Trump will come. I think it’s so important that the American people hear from all the candidates,” McDaniel said on Fox News.
McDaniel and David Bossie, who is in charge of the RNC debate committee, visited Trump at his Bedminster, New Jersey, home in recent weeks to encourage him to participate, according to a Trump adviser. The former president was noncommittal on his plans during this meeting.
