... and will instead sit for an online interview with Fox's former host: conservative firebrand Tucker Carlson.

That's according to the New York Times, which is citing people briefed on the matter.

Trump has for months suggested that he'd probably pass on the debate, arguing that it doesn't make sense to give the other participants a chance to attack him given his sizeable lead among Republican voters in national polls.

He's also criticized Fox News over its recent coverage of him.

Reuters spoke to Richard Norton Smith, a presidential historian and biographer, about the first Republican debate and Trump's possible participation:

"...the larger question is, does it matter if he does or if he doesn't? Debates are great media events. They've become increasingly events about the media as much as about the candidates. And that's why, particularly among Republicans, many of whom have grown to, for whatever reason or reasons, distrust what they call the mainstream media, it is actually advantageous for some candidates to skip a debate."

Few of Trump's rivals for the 2024 Republican nomination have aggressively criticized the former president despite his mounting legal troubles.

Trump has an Aug. 25 deadline to voluntarily surrender in Fulton County, Georgia, after being charged this week in his fourth criminal indictment, over alleged efforts to overturn his 2020 election loss.

Elizabeth Nolan Brown is a senior editor of the libertarian Reason Magazine.

"This indictment is definitely the big one out of all of the Trump indictments that we've known or expected were coming. How much it changes about the debate? I'm not very sure because, again, the other Republican candidates, Trump's opponents in the presidential contest, they have a hard time addressing this. They can't hit too hard at Trump because a lot of the Republican base thinks this is political persecution. They think Trump is being unfairly targeted. So for the opponents to sort of, you know, go hard at Trump over this is possibly to alienate a lot of Republican voters. Then again, it seems like a sort of silly thing to leave on the table and just sort of let, you know, let Trump get away with it and not even bring up as a potential downside."

A spokesperson for Trump's campaign told Reuters nothing was confirmed about Trump's debate plans, without elaborating. Representatives for Fox, Carlson, and the Republican National Committee couldn't immediately be reached for comment.