Former President Donald Trump will not be attending a 2024 Repbulican presidential forum.
On Tuesday, Bob Vander Plaats, the president of the FAMiLY Leader, which is hosting a 2024 presidential forum in Iowa tweeted, “I learned last night that [Donald Trump] will NOT attend our Leadership Summit this Friday.”
He shared that the candidates who will be participating include Sen. Tim Scott (R-S.C.), former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, former Vice President Mike Pence, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R).
He added they will have a “visionary, one on one, discussion” with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson.
I learned last night that @realDonaldTrump will NOT attend our Leadership Summit this Friday. Thus, our lineup is set: @votetimscott @AsaHutchinson @Mike_Pence @NikkiHaley @VivekGRamaswamy and @RonDeSantis will have visionary, one on one, discussion with @TuckerCarlson #FLS23…
— Bob Vander Plaats (@bobvanderplaats) July 11, 2023
A spokesperson for Trump told The Hill, “President Trump was in Iowa last week and will be back next week.”
“Unfortunately there is a scheduling conflict and the President will be in Florida this weekend headlining the premier national young voter conference with Turning Point Action while DeSantis is nowhere to be found,” the spokesperson added.
Trump has previously suggested he might skip Republican presidential debates.
When asked if he would be at the first debate in August hosted by Fox News, he told Reuters, “Possibly not.”
“Why would I give them time to make statements? Why would I do that when I’m leading them by 50 points and 60 points,” he asked.
According to FiveThirtyEight’s polling aggregator, Trump receives 52% of the vote in the Republican primary, while DeSantis comes in second at 21.5%.
Texts from Carlson revealed as part of Dominion Voting System’s defamation lawsuit against Fox News showed him criticizing the former president.
“We are very very close to being able to ignore Trump most nights, I truly can’t wait,” Carlson said in a Jan. 4, 2021, text.
In another message, the former Fox News host stated that he hated Trump “passionately.”
However, in a March interview on WABC Radio, Carlson insisted the texts were “grabbed completely illegitimately,” and he was “enraged” about it.
“I’m pretty straight forward, I’m um I love Trump. Like, as a person, I think Trump is funny and insightful,” he said during the interview, adding, “I said this to Trump when he called me, you know, all wounded about those texts.”