Politics

(NEW YORK) — The leading 2024 Republican presidential candidates are set to face off in a series of debates — the first of which is Wednesday night in Milwaukee, airing on Fox News starting at 9 p.m. EDT.

More than half a dozen White House hopefuls have met the polling and donor requirements for a spot on the debate stage. The front-runner, however, has declined to participate outright.

Here’s what to know about the first Republican presidential primary debate and the debates coming later in the election season.

How to watch the debate
The two-hour debate will air on Fox News and anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum will moderate it.

ABC News and FiveThirtyEight will have live updates online of the latest action on the debate stage as well as analysis on the biggest takeaways from the night.

Who will be participating in the presidential debate?
Eight candidates are confirmed to have met the Republican National Committee qualifications to attend.

They are: Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, former Vice President Mike Pence, tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson.

The RNC on Tuesday announced the lineup for where candidates will stand on the stage during the debate. DeSantis and Ramaswamy will stand center stage; Pence will stand to DeSantis’ right and Haley will be to Ramaswamy’s left.

The RNC shared earlier this summer that it would place candidates according to their polling numbers — with the highest polling candidate in the center.

Here’s a look at where each candidate will stand during the debate:

Former President Donald Trump would also have qualified — except that he isn’t going. He wrote in a post on his social media site on Sunday that he will skip the debate, saying that the public already knows who he is. He has also cited his enormous lead in early polls.

The GOP front-runner will instead release a pre-recorded interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Wednesday, a source familiar with the matter confirmed to ABC News over the weekend.

Miami Mayor Francis Suarez, former Texas Rep. Will Hurd, conservative radio host Larry Elder and businessman Perry Johnson did not meet the requirements to qualify for the debate.

What do candidates have to do to qualify for the debate stage?
The RNC set polling and donor requirements that candidates needed to fulfill to get on the first debate stage.

To qualify in Milwaukee, candidates needed to earn at least 1% in three high-quality national polls or a mix of national and early-state polls between July 1 and Monday. Also, they must have a minimum of 40,000 donors, with at least 200 donors in 20 or more states.

Additionally, candidates must also sign the pledge to support the eventual party nominee and not participate in non-RNC sanctioned debates.

The format and topics of the first debate
Candidates are expected to tackle many different topics.

While Trump isn’t expected to attend, he will likely be part of the discussion. The former president is facing four criminal indictments, and how other candidates react to his charges will “be interesting,” moderator Baier told Deadline.

“In the GOP primary, we have seen these indictments increase his polling numbers, increase his fundraising. … How others react to it and how differently they approach it will be a part of this primary and this debate,” Baier said.

Trump has denied any wrongdoing.

Abortion and the U.S. role in Ukraine amid Russia’s invasion are also topics the moderators plan to ask candidates about during the debate, MacCullum told TVNewser.

The candidates will not give opening statements and will have one minute to answer questions. They will have 30 seconds to respond to follow-ups and 45 seconds for closing statements, according to details Fox News shared with candidates ahead of the debate.

“Best efforts will be made to ensure a fair and robust discussion, giving every candidate the opportunity to answer questions and react to others,” the candidate-provided debate details state.

Mics will be attached to all candidate podiums and will be turned on at all times.

Why is the first debate in Milwaukee?
Republicans chose Milwaukee for the location of the first debate and for the Republican National Convention in July 2024, a likely reflection of Wisconsin’s electoral importance as a key swing state.

Four of the past six presidential elections have been decided by less than a percentage point in Wisconsin. In 2020, President Joe Biden won by only about 21,000 votes — a .56% margin; in 2016, Trump won with .77%.

When are the other 2024 presidential debates scheduled?
The second debate will take place on Wednesday, Sept. 27, at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California.

Haley has reportedly indicated the third debate will be in Alabama in October, though RNC officials haven’t confirmed that.

ABC News’ Lalee Ibssa, Soo Rin Kim and Isabella Murray contributed to this report.
 

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(NEW YORK) — North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum supported Donald Trump in 2016 and 2020 and is now running against the former president in the 2024 Republican presidential primary.

In a sit-down interview at the Iowa State Fair, Burgum told ABC News Correspondent MaryAlice Parks that while his opinion of Trump hasn’t changed, “My opinion of presidential elections are — they need to be about the future.”

Burgum, who was relatively little known on the national stage before launching his White House bid in early June, also pushed back on the idea that he might really be trying to pitch himself as a Cabinet secretary for the next GOP president.

“I’m running for president of the United States of America — the most important job in the country,” he said.

“We know we got the qualifications as both a governor of an energy and ag[riculture] state and as someone who’s got an impeccable record in the private sector that knows how to run and build and lead teams that are high-performing,” he told Parks. “That’s what I’ve done my whole life.”

“I think competition is fantastic for this country. I think it’s great for the Republican Party,” he said, “and I think that voters in January are going to want to have some choices. So we’re running to be among those.”

Burgum cited his local track record, going from software founder to politician. He successfully ran against the North Dakota Republican Party’s preferred candidate in the 2016 gubernatorial primary, state Attorney General Wayne Stenehjem, and then overwhelmingly winning reelection in 2020.

“We got a ton of support in North Dakota and this support goes back not just to ’16. It goes back to kids growing up at Arthur that I went to high school with are supporting us, people that I started our first business [with] are supporting us. People that have been farm and ranch neighbors for 20, 30, 40 years,” he said.

His North Dakota record and pitch to national voters
The governor has defined his presidential platform around the economy, energy and national security. In his interview with ABC News, Burgum suggested that culture war issues were better left to individual states.

Among the legislation he signed as governor were bills limiting health care for transgender youth and banning most abortions.

“North Dakota is a conservative state. And that legislation was all passed, totally appropriate for North Dakota,” he said.

As a presidential candidate, however, he’s said he would not support a similar federal abortion law if he is elected.

“That’s being left to the states. That’s where it should go. What works for New York is never going to work for North Dakota and across the country,” he said.

He called the presidency “very narrow and very defined in terms of what the role is in the Constitution.”

“The rest is left to the states or to the people, and some of these decisions need to be left at that level and not at the federal level,” he said. Elsewhere in the sit-down, Burgum talked about his energy policies, including the value of pursuing carbon neutrality through “innovation” and not “regulation”; his support for “decoupling” the U.S. economy from China; and whether voters will stick with Trump.

“Are they ready to move on? And I think that when we get to next January [when the first nominating contest is held], voters are going to have a chance to decide: Do they want to talk about the future or do they want to talk about the past?” he said. “I think that a majority of them are going to say, ‘It’s time for us to focus on the future.'”

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(NEW YORK) — Eight out of the more than a dozen 2024 GOP presidential candidates are confirmed by the Republican National Committee to be on the first primary debate stage on Wednesday night in Milwaukee. The four candidates who didn’t make the debate stage are attacking the RNC’s requirements and making plans for the next steps in their campaign.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, tech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, former U.N. ambassador and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, former Vice President Mike Pence, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson are confirmed by the party to have cleared the polling, donor and pledging requirements. Former President Donald Trump was not among the listed participants and confirmed on Sunday that he would skip the debate.

The final count released by the RNC late Monday disqualifies at least four Republicans who claimed they had made the stage. Michigan businessman Perry Johnson, conservative talk radio host and a former California gubernatorial candidate Larry Elder, Miami Mayor Francis Suarez and former Texas Rep. Will Hurd all came short of the debate-stage qualifications: get at least 1% in three national polls or in a mix of national and early-state polls recognized by the committee and accrue 40,000 individual donors to their campaigns from at least 200 unique donors per state in 20 or more states.

In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Johnson criticized the process the RNC used to finalize the candidates. The RNC approved candidates in a case-by-case review of each candidates’ donor and polling numbers to make sure they met the qualifications.

“The debate process has been corrupted, plain and simple. Our campaign hit every metric put forward by the RNC and we have qualified for the debate. We’ll be in Milwaukee Wednesday and will have more to say tomorrow,” he wrote.

Suarez previously claimed to have met the polling benchmarks, which the RNC refuted. The mayor told ABC News’ Senior Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott last week that he would reconsider his campaign if he failed to qualify for the debate.

“Being honest, I think, remember, it only gets harder from here. Right? So, if you don’t make the debate stage in the first debate, the thresholds go up. So, it’s harder to make hire thresholds when you’re not making lower thresholds,” Suarez said earlier this month.

Will Hurd decried the RNC’s polling requirements as “arbitrary, unclear, and lack consistency” in a statement Tuesday morning about his absence on the Milwaukee debate stage. Hurd had taken particular issue with one of the party’s benchmarks for polls to qualify — that each survey had to include 800 registered likely Republican voters.

One of the polls that would have put Hurd on stage did not ask a “screening question” that would have verified that requirement.

“The lack of transparency and confusion around the RNC’s debate requirements is antithetical to the democratic process. The polling standards are arbitrary, unclear, and lack consistency. This is an unacceptable process for a presidential election. The American people deserve better,” he wrote in a post on X. “The RNC discounted polls that included independents and Democrats willing to vote for a Republican. If the GOP is looking to grow our electorate and beat Joe Biden, then we better have a clear understanding of what qualifies as a likely Republican voter. Anyone, regardless of party, who is willing to check the box for a Republican should be considered a ‘likely Republican voter.’ Expanding our party should be applauded, not penalized.”

Elder called the RNC’s debate qualification process “rigged,” and said he plans to sue the party for the “polling criteria set by the anti-conservative, anti-Trump RNC establishment.” Elder said he plans to still be in Milwaukee on Wednesday, though he will not be on stage.

All candidates had up until 48 hours prior to the Aug. 23 debate to prove to the RNC that they met the qualifications. Upon verification of the polling and donor thresholds, the candidates were presented with the GOP loyalty pledge, which meant they must agree to support the eventual party nominee. Each hopeful had to sign the pledge to get on the stage for the first debate.

The front-runner, Trump, said he wouldn’t attend the debate. He pre-recorded a sit-down interview with Tucker Carlson last week, which will be aired as counter-programming to the GOP debate on Fox Wednesday.

Trump, in addition to forgoing the stage, has said he would not sign the loyalty pledge. RNC Chairwoman Ronna McDaniel said last week that she has a “feeling” former President Trump will sign the party’s loyalty pledge if he decided to participate in the debate, however.

“He’s signed the pledge before. He signed it to get on the South Carolina ballot,” McDaniel said on NewsNation. “I have a feeling if he wants to be on the debate stage, he’s going to sign that pledge.”

ABC News’ Libby Cathey contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden will visit Maui on Monday to observe the damage and recovery from devastating wildfires on the Hawaiian island that started earlier this month.

Biden had been criticized by conservatives for what they contended was his relative silence on the disaster, which officials say has killed more than 110 people.

Last week, however, the president vowed the federal government’s aid to Hawaii would be continuous.

“We will be there in Maui as long as it takes,” Biden said while in Milwaukee for an unrelated event. “As long as it takes. And I mean that sincerely.”

White House spokeswoman Olivia Dalton also pushed back on the detractors, insisting to reporters on Tuesday, “The fact of the matter is this president has been on it from the beginning.”

More than 1,000 federal personnel are on the ground in Maui, including more than 450 search and rescue team members, and nearly $7 million in federal assistance has been disbursed to nearly 2,200 households, including nearly $3 million in initial rental assistance, according to a White House fact sheet sent to reporters on Saturday.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has also made available more than 50,000 meals, 75,000 liters of water, 5,000 cots and 10,000 blankets and shelter supplies to the county government for distribution.

In Maui, the president and first lady Jill Biden will “meet with first responders, survivors, as well as federal, state, and local officials,” White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said in a statement last week.

“They’re very much looking forward to being able to meet with people on the ground,” White House spokesman John Kirby said on Good Morning America on Friday. “Obviously, there’s nothing fun about going to Maui at this particular time, but they know it’s an important time. They know that people are suffering. They want to hear those stories.”

In an appearance on on This Week on Sunday, FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell detailed some of the federal response.

“The update that I got last evening is right now the search efforts are 78% complete in Lahaina town, and we continue to have our teams on the ground going through all of the structures that were lost as a result of this fire,” she told co-anchor Jonathan Karl. Lahaina was largely devastated by the blaze.

“We’ve also given out already over $8 million to families that have been impacted and registered for assistance with FEMA. And our shelter population is down to just over 40, with over 1,200 people that have been moved into hotels, motels and other types of short-term rentals,” Criswell said Sunday.

She said the Bidens’ visit will afford the president the opportunity to view the “devastation” for himself while offering residents some “hope.”

“I think the biggest thing is, he’s going to be able to see what I saw when I went to Maui last week and just really experience the complete and utter devastation that this town had experienced,” Criswell said.

“But he’s also going to be able to talk with people and hear their stories and provide a sense of hope and assurance that the federal government is going to be with them as he has directed, and we will continue to bring in resources to support the requests of the governor and their needs as they go through the recovery process.”

As of Friday night, fires in Olinda and Kula were 85% contained, the Lahaina fire was 90% contained and the Pulehu/Kihei fire was 100% contained, according to Maui officials.

ABC News’ Ben Gittleson and Justin Gomez contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — Former Vice President Mike Pence, eager for the opportunity to debate his boss of four years, suggested former President Donald Trump might still debate in Milwaukee this week — despite sources indicating he’s unlikely to attend.

Pressed by co-anchor Jonathan Karl in an interview for ABC’s “This Week” Sunday on what it says about Trump “if he doesn’t even bother to show up to the first presidential primary debate,” Pence said Trump still could.

“You know, I served alongside the president for a long time, and one thing I realized about him is it’s not over till it’s over,” Pence said. “So I’m actually still hoping he shows up, Jon. I mean, you know, to get on that plane, Trump Force One, and head out on that stage.”

“I think every one of us that have qualified for that debate stage ought to be on the stage, be willing to square off, answer the tough questions and also draw a bright line contrast,” he continued. “You know, my differences with the former president go far beyond that tragic day in January two and a half years ago.”

Trump is planning to skip the first Republican primary debate and has pre-recorded a sit-down with former Fox News Host Tucker Carlson that will air on Wednesday as a competing event, ABC News previously reported, according to sources familiar with the matter.

Pence said on “This Week” that Trump and others in the field are “walking away from America’s leadership in the world” and “walking away from a commitment of fiscal responsibility and reform,” leaning into his differences over support to Ukraine’s military and for reforming U.S. entitlement programs.

Pence also promised to “champion the cause of life” from the Oval Office, while he says Trump and others are “shying away” from traditional conservative causes.

Asked about his strategy for the debate and how he plans to breakthrough, Pence told Karl, “I feel like I’ve been preparing for this first Republican presidential debate my whole life.”

“One of my goals in that debate is for the American people, Republican primary voters, to get to know me in a little bit broader context and demonstrate the kind of leadership that we bring to this, which I think is what the moment calls for,” he said. “I think it’s no time for on-the-job training. I want to project when I’m on that stage, to the American people, all of what came with the experience of serving as vice president, as a governor and as a member of Congress, and my determination to bring that experience and that conservative record to bear on the challenges facing this country.”

The former vice president is among at least nine Republican candidates who appear to have qualified for the debate including Trump, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley, South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson.

Businessman Perry Johnson and Miami, Florida, Mayor Francis Suarez also say they’ve met the Republican National Committee’s qualifications, but the RNC has yet to publicly confirm any of the debate attendees.

Candidates have until 48 hours before the debate to qualify, according to the RNC.

Pence was “never made aware of any broad-based effort” by Trump to declassify docs
Trump has been indicted four times since he left office and denies all wrongdoing. The second set of charges against him were brought by federal prosecutors in relation to his handling of classified information while out of office.

He has pleaded not guilty to all charges in the first three cases and has yet to enter a plea in the fourth but has labeled the case a “witch hunt.”

As Trump continues to claim that he declassified all of the documents he took with him to Mar-a-Lago after leaving the White House, ABC News exclusively reported Sunday that, according to sources familiar with the matter,Trump’s last chief of staff, Mark Meadows, has told federal investigators that he knew of no such broad declassification order from Trump.

Asked by Karl whether he had heard anything to suggest Trump has issued an order declassifying documents like that, Pence said he was “never made aware” of any such efforts.

“First off, the handling of classified materials is enormously serious in the life of the nation, but I can’t really comment on your reporting. But in my case, I was never made aware of any broad-based effort to declassify documents,” he said. “There is a process that the White House goes through to declassify materials. I’m aware of that occurring on several occasions over the course of our four years, but I don’t have any knowledge of any broad-based directive from the president. But that doesn’t mean it didn’t occur. … It’s not something that I ever heard.”

Pressed about whether Meadows as chief of staff would have known about such an effort, Pence said, “I would expect so” but declined to comment further on what he suggested — without evidence — were “leaks” from the Justice Department.

“Look, President Trump is entitled to a presumption of innocence. He’s entitled to his day in court,” he said. “And I’m just not going to comment on the latest leak or the latest reporting coming out of that process.”

Despite the legal challenges surrounding him, the former president has continued to pursue his comeback bid, leaving open the possibility that somebody convicted of a criminal felony could serve in the White House.

In 2002, Pence, as a member of Congress, voted to expel from the House of Representatives James Traficant, a Democrat who was convicted of federal corruption charges.

“You, and virtually every other member of the House, voted to expel him, saying that it wasn’t right to have a convicted felon as a member of Congress. Would you hold that same standard for the White House?” Karl pressed Pence.

“If you’re saying, would I apply that to my former running mate in this race? Look, I think that needs to be left to the American people. Look, let’s let the former president have his day in court,” Pence said. “No one’s above the law. But with regard to the president’s future, my hope is when we get to that debate stage — I’m still kind of hoping maybe he’ll come — is that we could really have a debate about the challenges facing the American people.”

ABC News’ Quinn Scanlan contributed to this report.

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(WASHINGTON) — President Joe Biden will see the “complete and utter devastation” from the Maui wildfires in Hawaii when he visits Monday but also offer a sense of “hope,” Federal Emergency Management Agency Administrator Deanne Criswell said Sunday.

“I think the biggest thing is, he’s going to be able to see what I saw when I went to Maui last week and just really experience the complete and utter devastation that this town had experienced,” Criswell told ABC “This Week” co-anchor Jonathan Karl, referring to Lahaina, a town on the island that was largely consumed in the blaze.

The death toll from the fires is at more than 110, according to officials.

Criswell said search efforts were 78% complete in Lahaina as of Saturday night.

She said the president is “also going to be able to talk with people and hear their stories and provide a sense of hope and assurance that the federal government is going to be with them as he has directed, and we will continue to bring in resources to support the requests of the governor and their needs as they go through the recovery process.”

Biden and first lady Jill Biden will travel to Maui on Monday to observe the damage from and recovery efforts surrounding the wildfires as well as meet with survivors and first responders, the White House has said.

Conservative critics have accused the president of devoting relatively little attention to the unfolding disaster.

Last week, he said the federal government would be ceaseless in its efforts to help the island recover: “As long as it takes, and I mean that sincerely,” he said.

On “This Week,” Criswell detailed some of how the federal government is assisting the recovery.

“We continue to have our teams on the ground going through all of the structures that were lost as a result of this fire,” she told Karl.

“But we’ve also given out already over $8 million to families that have been impacted and registered for assistance with FEMA. And our shelter population is down to just over 40, with over 1,200 people that have been moved into hotels, motels and other types of short-term rentals,” she said.

Criswell said the most important step Maui residents can take is to register with FEMA so they can receive housing assistance.

“The biggest thing for them right now is that we continue to get them into the system so they can either move from congregate sheltering, where, again, that population has reduced drastically, and into the short-term rental assistance,” she said. “And then as we continue to work with the governor and his team, working with each of these individuals, each of these families, to help them with what their longer-term strategy is going to be and where they’re going to stay while they are making plans for what they’re going to do to rebuild.”

Elsewhere, Criswell warned of the upcoming danger of Hurricane Hilary, which is expected to move into Southern California from Mexico on Sunday and threatens to bring a deluge of rain to a part of the country that isn’t accustomed to such weather.

“People really need to take this storm in California serious. I think it’s interesting that the total rain amounts aren’t like what we see in some of our Atlantic storms and Gulf [of Mexico] storms, but it’s going to really be potentially devastating for them in these desert areas,” she said. “It’s just making sure people stay out of harm’s way, that they don’t drive through this water and they take it serious.”

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(DES MOINES, Iowa) — As former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson still works to make the debate stage in Milwaukee, he’s urging other Republican candidates to do more to take on former President Donald Trump, who now faces four criminal indictments.

Asked by ABC News Correspondent MaryAlice Parks in a sit-down interview at the Iowa State Fair if the rest of the field should be more vocal — with Parks noting that just Hutchinson, former Gov. Chris Christie and former Rep. Will Hurd are condemning Trump on the trail — Hutchinson said, “They should” with “what’s at stake for both our party and our country.”

“They should speak the truth in reference to Donald Trump. He’s dangerous for our country. He is self-centered. At this point, he’s looking out for himself,” Hutchinson said. “He’s already set his agenda for a second term, which is to get even. It is about revenge. And this is not what we need in America.”

“People need to be clear on it. They need to speak out about it. I understand that they want to be reticent because they don’t want to offend any voter in this, but this is an unusual time, with a lot at risk. And you’ve got to speak clearly,” he told Parks.

Hutchinson, who called for Trump to drop out after his first criminal indictment out of Manhattan, said the American people have an interest in seeing speedy trials for Trump as they’re set to vote on someone who could be found guilty in a court of law.

“These issues need to be resolved. And so the prosecution is doing the right thing by saying, ‘We’ve got to get this resolved and it shouldn’t just simply wait till after the election,'” said Hutchinson, a formal federal prosecutor. “There’s going to be all kinds of public relations happening and victimization playing by Donald Trump during the process, but all of this will be resolved based upon the facts and based upon the law in the courtroom, decided by a jury, and you just got to keep your focus on that.”

Trump’s legal team has requested that the judge overseeing his federal 2020 election interference case schedule his trial for April of 2026.

Will he make the debate stage?

With the debate just days away, and the deadline to qualify 48 hours prior, the former governor’s chances of making the stage seem slim, despite the confidence he continues to project.

“I am gonna make the debate stage,” he told Parks. “In fact, [I’m so] confident that we’re starting to prepare for it.”

The RNC is requiring candidates to reach at least 1% in select polls and to reach 40,000 unique donors — a level Hutchinson objects to for the first debate. Candidates also have to sign a pledge saying they will support the eventual nominee, which Hutchinson has shown trepidation towards but says he would sign because he doesn’t think Trump will win.

“They don’t budge. They have their criteria. And they have the pledge that they want, but obviously we shouldn’t be supporting someone who could be convicted of a felony, a serious felony, and it puts us in a terrible position leading up to the convention with the uncertainty of how these trials are going to come out,” he said.

Monday marked the fourth indictment of the former president, who already faces federal charges in the special counsel’s Jan. 6 and classified documents probes, as well as the Manhattan DA’s hush money case. Trump, who has decried the probes as political witch hunts, pleaded not guilty to all charges in the first three cases.

Prior to Trump, no former or current president had ever been indicted — a fact Hutchinson would likely point out on a national debate stage.

As of the end of this week, the Arkansas Republican has more than 32,000 donors, with limited time to make up the difference, according to his campaign. He has reached the polling requirement but is trailing his competitors, with a current average of 0.5% according to FiveThirtyEight.

Christie, meanwhile, passed the 40,000-donor threshold in July, despite jumping in the race two months after Hutchinson and both sharing the status of former governors. Hurd said Thursday he passed the 40,000 mark, after announcing his bid in late June. His team told ABC News they’re “confident” he meets the polling requirement, but Hurd has said he won’t sign the RNC loyalty pledge without revisions to the text.

Hutchinson insists it’s still early in the campaign and hasn’t suggested he’ll drop out if he doesn’t make the first debate.

“Places like Iowa or New Hampshire, they’re late breaking. They’re going to be December decisions as to who they’re going to support,” he told Parks. “So you want to make sure that you put kindling on the fire now and you’re ready to go this fall when cold weather hits.”

ABC News’ Isabella Murray contributed to this report.

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(NEW YORK) — Former President Donald Trump, facing criminal charges in Georgia, is again going on the attack about the state’s 2020 election results.

On Thursday night on his social media platform Truth Social, Trump made more unsubstantiated claims about he called the “rigged” and “stolen” election in Georgia. He was expected to keep doing so at a news conference on Monday but has since canceled the event, he said, at the advice of his lawyers. He said he would prefer to air his complaints in legal filings.

The false claims come two-and-a-half years after the election, which officials repeatedly determined was not fraudulent after an audit, multiple recounts and at least a half dozen failed legal challenges.

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, the day after the indictment was handed down against Trump and 18 others, emphasized on social media the “2020 election in Georgia was not stolen.

“For nearly three years now, anyone with evidence of fraud has failed to come forward – under oath – and prove anything in a court of law,” Kemp said.

Gabriel Sterling, the chief operating officer for the Georgia secretary of state’s office, also plainly rejected Trump’s claims on “This Week” this past Sunday.

“One of the things that we’ve learned and public reporting on this, is he requested there were two independent audits and verifications by outside groups. And both — each paid $600,000 — and both of them said there was no fraud, you lost the state,” Sterling told ABC News Chief Washington Correspondent Jonathan Karl.

“We’ve been saying this over and over again,” Sterling continued. “We counted the ballots three times. He lost this state and he continues to say he didn’t lose it and it’s just creating a lot of tension and a lot of chaos. It’s completely unnecessary.”

Georgia was the only state in 2020 to conduct a statewide recount, not once but twice — meaning the nearly 5 million votes cast were tallied a total three times.

The first recount was done manually, or by hand, as part of an audit ordered by Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger.

“The audit confirmed the original result of the election, namely that Joe Biden won the Presidential Contest in the State of Georgia,” the audit report stated.

Trump’s campaign then requested another recount as the victory margin was under 0.5%. That recount, done using scanners that read and tally the votes, also confirmed Biden’s victory.

Georgia’s top officials certified Biden’s win on two occasions, after each recount.

A signature audit was also conducted by Raffensperger in December 2020 that found no fraudulent absentee ballots in Cobb County, located in metro Atlanta, another allegation made by Trump and his allies after the election.

“The Secretary of State’s office has always been focused on calling balls and strikes in elections and, in this case, three strikes against the voter fraud claims and they’re out,” Raffensperger said at the time. “We conducted a statewide hand recount that reaffirmed the initial tally, and a machine recount at the request of the Trump campaign that also reaffirmed the original tally. This audit disproves the only credible allegations the Trump campaign had against the strength of Georgia’s signature match processes.”

In addition to the recounts and audits, Trump and his allies filed at least a half dozen legal challenges to the Georgia results that either failed or were eventually withdrawn.

Kemp on Friday, during a gathering of Republican presidential candidates in Atlanta, asserted he upheld the law during the last presidential race.

“Through the whole 2020 election, there was a lot of things said, a lot of things done. At the end of the day, I followed the law and the Constitution,” Kemp said.

Trump and 18 others have been charged by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis as part of a sweeping racketeering indictment alleging they schemed to illegally overturn his election loss to President Joe Biden in the state. Trump has denied any wrongdoing.

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(WASHINGTON) — Several Republican candidates are clawing for a spot on next week’s presidential debate stage, while former President Donald Trump plans to skip the event altogether.

With time quickly running out before Wednesday’s debate in Milwaukee, former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson and former Texas Rep. Will Hurd say they are inching closer to the Republican National Committee’s donor and polling thresholds: at least 1% in three high-quality national polls, or in a mixture of early-state and national polls, as well as secure at least 40,000 unique donors.

And questions remain as to whether Miami Mayor Francis Suarez has met both requirements, as he claimed. Businessman Perry Johnson has also appeared to make the debate stage.

Meanwhile, GOP candidates discussed the upcoming debate and more at a gathering in Atlanta, Georgia — the scene of Trump’s fourth indictment.

Here’s what to know from the campaign trail on Friday.

Francis Suarez, Perry Johnson say they’ve qualified

Suarez claimed Friday he’d met all the thresholds needed to participate.

“While our campaign only began a few weeks ago, I am humbled knowing Republicans from all fifty states have donated to our campaign—nearly 50,000 thus far,” Suarez said in a statement.

But according to a source familiar with the RNC debate qualifications, Suarez has still not met the polling threshold needed to join the other candidates on stage.

Last week at the Iowa State Fair, Suarez told ABC News Senior Congressional Correspondent Rachel Scott that he would consider dropping out of the presidential race if he did not qualify for the first debate. Suarez said that if an individual didn’t qualify for the first debate, it only gets harder to make the second debate.

Johnson also announced Friday he qualified for the debate after hitting 1% in a national poll from Victory Insights and 1.8% in a NH Trafalgar Group poll.

During a press gaggle after his soapbox speech at the Iowa State Fair, he said he was set on making it to that stage. It is unclear if Johnson has signed the RNC’s “Beat Biden” pledge yet, as he told ABC News he would back in July.

Johnson has been critical of the RNC’s qualification requirements calling the 40,000-donor threshold “ridiculous” and the RNC itself a “nutty organization.”

In a statement, Johnson said he was “encouraging President Trump to attend the debate so the American people can measure the plans and the records of all major candidates on stage.”

Trump said Friday that he is planning the skip the first Republican presidential debate and is strongly considering sitting down for an interview with Tucker Carlson that day instead.

-Hannah Demissie, Will McDuffie, Kendall Ross and Isabella Murray

Others say they’re getting closer

Hutchinson, a vocal Trump critic, told CNN Friday he’s gaining a couple thousand new donors every day and is “getting very close” to the 40,000 donors required.

But with his campaign manager sending a message to supporters last night saying the former governor is still 7,000 donors short, it’s not clear Hutchinson has a path to make it there with only roughly three days left. The message read, “Asa needs 7k more donors to reach the debate stage! Chip in $1 now.”

Hutchinson told CNN he had a unique voice to bring to the stage.

“This is the first debate that will really be showcasing a future Republican Party without Donald Trump,” he said. “Whether he’s there or not he will be a topic of it. We’ll state our positions on him. I’ll tell the truth.”

Hurd said on Friday he already had tickets to Milwaukee, despite still needing to reach the RNC’s polling threshold and commit to signing the loyalty pledge.

“For those that know me, I’m single minded, I have one goal right now. And that is to make sure we’re on that debate stage,” Hurd said during a fireside chat with Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds. “I’m going to be doing debate prep this weekend, I have tickets to Milwaukee, so I feel confident that we’re gonna be on the debate stage.”

-Libby Cathey and Isabella Murray

Pence hopes ‘everybody’ shows up to debate

In Georgia, ABC News Correspondent Rachel Scott asked former Vice President Mike Pence about his repeated statements the election was not stolen.

“What impact do those false claims have on the Republican party going forward?” ABC News’ Scott asked.

Pence responded that he thinks Republican primary voters are ready to move on and “aren’t interested in looking in the rearview mirror.”

“There’s too many challenges facing American families today,” he said, citing inflation, high mortgage rates and other issues.

“And we’ll let these other issues work themselves out in a manner consistent with the rule of law, but for my part, we’re going to continue to remain focused on where the American people are focused — and I can’t wait to get to that debate stage. And I hope everybody shows up,” he said.

-Rachel Scott, Gabrielle Abdul-Hakim, Ben Siegel and Libby Cathey

Biden campaign hits Trump for plans to skip 1st GOP debate

President Joe Biden’s campaign seized on news Trump is planning to skip debating his Republican rivals.

“Of course Donald Trump wants to avoid appearing in Wisconsin because he knows Wisconsin is a state that illustrates his failed leadership,” Biden campaign spokesperson Kevin Munoz said in a statement, citing Trump’s stance on abortion and how Foxconn is cutting jobs in the state. (Trump once touted the jobs the company created in Wisconsin.)

“He cannot hide from the fact that Wisconsinites rejected him in 2020, and will reject the MAGA agenda again in 2024,” Munoz added.

-Fritz Farrow

Kemp skeptical of a Georgia trial before 2024 election

Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp on Friday offered his thoughts on the criminal charges Trump is facing in his state.

“One thing is certain about these indictments in my mind and my opinion: this trial, despite what dates anybody’s asking for or anything else, it is not going to happen before the election,” he said. “And the Democrats want us to be focused on things like this so we’re not focused on Joe Biden’s record.”

Kemp drew Trump’s ire when he certified Biden’s win. On Friday, he told people to “quit complaining” about the 2020 presidential race.

“We don’t need to be focusing on stupid things that aren’t going to happen before this election,” Kemp said. “We can deal with that later, after we win. We have to tell people what we are for. And then we have to have a candidate that can win the election because if we don’t win, we don’t get to govern and we don’t get a pencil. I mean, it’s that simple to me.”

Trump unveils fundraising ‘seal of approval’

The Trump campaign announced a new plan to combat what they say are candidates and political action committees soliciting donations from people by falsely claiming Trump supports them.

The campaign will now hand out a “Seal of Approval” — a gold badge featuring Trump’s face with the words “Official Team Trump” — to candidates and committees that Trump endorsed.

“The purpose of the Seal is to help President Trump’s donors distinguish between authorized uses of his name and likeness, and unauthorized uses including oftentimes outright scams. It is intended to protect the President’s donors and supporters from illegitimate organizations falsely claiming some affiliation with President Trump and his campaign,” the campaign said in a statement.

-Lalee Ibssa and Soo Rin Kim

Copyright © 2023, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.

(WASHINGTON) — Former President Donald Trump is planning on not attending the first Republican presidential debate in Milwaukee next Wednesday and is strongly considering sitting down for an interview with Tucker Carlson that day instead, according to sources familiar with the matter.

But sources indicated no final decision has been reached and cautioned Trump can always change his mind last minute.

The Republican National Committee has previously stated it needed two days notice for Trump’s final decision to make necessary arrangements.

The debate plans were first reported by The New York Times.

Trump met the RNC donor and polling threshold for the debate but publicly said he wouldn’t sign the RNC pledge — a requirement to be on the debate stage — that says the candidate will support the eventual nominee.

Campaign spokesperson Steven Cheung said, “We haven’t confirmed anything on our end.”

Some of Trump’s surrogates will be in Wisconsin during next week’s debate, sources told ABC News.

Fox News is airing the debate and Carlson is a former Fox News host.

This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.

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