Palm Beach, Florida - Former President Donald Trump will skip the first Republican primary debate next week and will instead sit for an online interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, according to a bombshell report!

Trump has taken a will-he-or-won't-he approach to the debate for weeks, arguing that his massive polling lead over the rest of the Republican primary field should effectively exempt him from participating in the forum. He had said that he would make a final decision on the debate this week.

A spokesperson for Trump’s campaign declined to confirm the decision to sit down with Carlson instead, which was first reported by The New York Times reported on Friday.

The first GOP debate is set to take place in Milwaukee next week. So far, at least eight candidates have met the Republican National Committee’s participation criteria, including Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, who’s seen as the most serious challenger to Trump.

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Trump’s decision to forego the debate in favor of an interview with Carlson, a conservative commentator and close ally, is a blow to Fox News, which is hosting the first debate.

He attended a private dinner earlier this month with network executives, who lobbied him to attend the debate, but has been recently taking pot-shots at what he perceives as unfavorable coverage.

Even if he had agreed to participate in the debate, there was one other obstacle standing in the way. Trump said last week that he would not sign an RNC-sanctioned pledge to support the eventual Republican presidential nominee – a prerequisite for the debate.

That hadn’t stopped Trump from teasing the possibility of showing up. At a recent campaign rally in New Hampshire, he floated a question to the audience about whether he should debate, before saying "maybe we’ll do something else."

Both Trump and his allies have repeatedly downplayed the importance of the first debate.

The former president leads his closest rival in the 2024 GOP primary by double-digits and remains deeply popular among the party’s conservative voter base.