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Trump has for months suggested that he would likely pass on
Wednesday night's debate in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, arguing that
it did not make sense to give others a change to attack him
given his sizeable lead among Republicans in national polls.
Trump has also criticized Fox, which is hosting the debate, over
its recent coverage of him.
Trump's absence could mean Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, a
distant second in the polls, will become the focus of attacks
from other candidates looking to position themselves as the
primary alternative to the former president.
Trump campaign spokesman Steven Cheung said nothing had been
confirmed on the candidate's debate plans, without elaborating.
Representatives for Fox, which parted ways earlier this year
with Carlson, and the Republican National Committee could not
immediately be reached for comment. Carlson, who now is starting
his own media company, also could not be reached.
In the most recent Reuters/Ipsos poll released this month, Trump
held 47% of the Republican vote nationally, with DeSantis
dropping six percentage points from July down to just 13%. None
of the other candidates due to attend the debate have broken out
of single digits.
Trump's rivals for the Republican presidential nomination ahead
of the 2024 election will gather at the debate to tout their
candidacies, but so far only a few have aggressively criticized
Trump despite his mounting legal troubles.
Trump has an Aug. 25 deadline to voluntarily surrender in Fulton
County, Georgia, after being charged this week in a fourth
criminal indictment, for an alleged scheme intended to reverse
his 2020 election loss to Democrat Joe Biden.
Most self-identified Republicans polled in June said they saw
politics behind the indictments of Trump up to that point.
Trump also faces two federal indictments over his handling of
classified documents after leaving office in January 2021 and
over his alleged role in efforts to overturn his election loss.
He also faces charges in New York over alleged hush money
payments to a pornographic film star ahead of the 2016 election.
(Reporting by Nathan Layne; Writing by Susan Heavey; Editing by
Ismail Shakil and Alistair Bell)
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