Former President Donald Trump confirmed Sunday he will not participate in the first Republican primary debate this week.
Stating that the public already “knows who I am,” Trump wrote on his social media platform: “I will therefore not be doing the 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.
Hours before Trump posted Sunday, RNC chair Ronna McDaniel said she hoped he would be on the debate stage in Milwaukee this week. “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 non-committal on his plans during this meeting.
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Article URL : https://www.cnn.com/2023/08/20/politics/donald-trump-gop-primary-debates/index.html