NEW YORK CITY, NEW YORK: The first GOP debate is just hours away now and major leaders will come together to discuss their policies and ideas for America's future.
However, one of its main attractions, former President Donald Trump, to many Republicans' dismay, is not set to participate in the first gathering of the presidential election candidates.
Trump's rocky relationship with his once-favorite news show 'Fox & Friends' continues to persist but the hosts have previously expressed how they eagerly wish to see him involved in the debate.
In a new statement by host Steve Doocy, he also went on to suggest that President Joe Biden will gain an advantage over Trump because of his absence from the debate.
Steve Doocy thinks Trump is 'helping' Biden
The 'Fox & Friends' hosts have been consistently anxious over Trump refusing to show up for the GOP debate. On Sunday, the former President finally confirmed that he would stick to his decision of not participating with his fellow GOP leaders, given that he had an unbeatable lead over all of them.
Trump announced the same through a post on Truth, a platform he primarily uses to interact with the public after previously getting banned from Twitter (now called X).
He started the post by citing poll numbers as he wrote, "New CBS POLL, just out, has me leading the field by "legendary" numbers. TRUMP 62%, 46 Points above DeSanctimonious (who is crashing like an ailing bird!), Ramaswamy 7%, Pence 5%, Scott 3%, Haley 2%, Sloppy Chris Christie 2%, "Aida" Hutchinson 1%."
After citing his status in the elections, he wrote, "The public knows who I am & what a successful Presidency I had, with Energy Independence, Strong Borders & Military, Biggest EVER Tax & Regulation Cuts, No Inflation, Strongest Economy in History, & much more. I WILL THEREFORE NOT BE DOING THE DEBATES!"
Doocy addressed the final decision made by the Republican leader on the Monday episode of his show.
"By skipping the debates, though, Donald Trump may actually be helping Joe Biden, because he’s giving Joe Biden an excuse for not debating Donald Trump,” he said, possibly pointing at the Hunter Biden scandals the President is currently riddled with amongst other ongoing issues, per The Hill.
"That's one of the things that Ronna McDaniel told the former president when she was trying to get him to do the first debate," he added, mentioning the Republican National Committee chairwoman, "But he said, 'nope, not going to do it.'"
Ainsley Earhardt suggests Trump's legal team is behind it
Fellow co-host and Trump's continuous supporter alongside Brian Kilmeade went on to suggest that the former President might have been asked to step down from the debates by his legal team.
"He's also being indicted four times," Earhardt said, "He might not want to get on stage because his lawyers might say you can't talk about it," per Mediate.
Kilmeade also went on to add that there won't be the case of President Biden debating with Trump anyway as he "can't get through a sentence."
Just a few days ago, Trump called out the show 'Fox & Friends' for using pictures of him that weren't exactly to his liking.
The Fox show is known for being one of the favorites of the former President but lately, there has been a noticeable dent in their relationship.