The current thinking among Donald Trump’s campaign advisers and those close to the former president is that he is not planning on participating in next week’s Republican presidential primary debate, three sources familiar with his plans tell CNN, and has been proposing counterprogramming to the event.
The sources say that Trump has not done any prep for the debate, which is being hosted in Milwaukee by Fox News. However, one adviser argued he doesn’t need debate prep, and said there’s always a chance he may ultimately decide to participate at the 11th hour.
Trump, meanwhile, has been throwing out different ideas for his own counterprogramming during the debate, the sources say, including sitting down with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson and calling into the different cable news shows.
Conversations regarding a potential interview with Carlson have taken place with Trump’s team, but there is no definitive plan for him to do that as of now, they say.
Trump has privately and publicly floated skipping either one or both of the first two Republican presidential primary debates and has repeatedly pointed to his commanding lead in the polls as one reason he is hesitant to share the stage with his GOP challengers.
Wednesday’s primary debate, the first of the 2024 campaign cycle, will come just over a week after the former president was indicted for the fourth time. On Monday night, a grand jury in Fulton County, Georgia, charged Trump with being the head of a “criminal enterprise” to overturn the 2020 election results in Georgia. The indictment included 18 co-defendants in addition to Trump, 41 charges in total and 30 unindicted co-conspirators.
Lawyers for Trump are in “ongoing negotiations” with the Fulton County District attorney’s office regarding details of his surrender, CNN previously reported.
As of…
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