Tucker Carlson will host the first GOP Presidential Forum of the 2024 race

Blaze TV announced Monday that former Fox News anchor Tucker Carlson will host the first Republican presidential forum of the 2024 primary season.

The event will take place at Family Leadership Summit in Des Moines, Iowa, later this month.

“Blaze Media has teamed up with THE FAMILY LEADER to bring you the first presidential forum of the 2024 Republican Primary season, hosted by Tucker Carlson,” Blaze TV tweeted.

“We will be live streaming this event all day Friday, July 14 on BlazeTV and the BlazeTV YouTube channel,” the news outlet added.

The Blaze indicated that Republican candidates participating include Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, businessman Vivek Ramaswamy, U.S. Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina and former Vice President Mike Pence.

🚨GREAT NEWS: 🚨

Blaze Media has teamed up with THE FAMILY LEADER to bring you the first presidential forum of the 2024 Republican Primary season, hosted by Tucker Carlson. We will be streaming this event live all day Friday, July 14th on BlazeTV and the BlazeTV YouTube channel. pic.twitter.com/YdqAfoX0VR

— TheBlaze (@theblaze) July 10, 2023

Former President Donald Trump currently leads the field of Republican candidates by more than 30 percentage points, according to the RealClear Politics average of surveys

Trump has 53 percent support; while DeSantis gets 20.9 percent; Pence, 6.1 percent; Haley, 3.6 percent; Scott 3.3 percent; and Ramaswamy 2.4 percent.

The first official debate on the Republican National Committee calendar is underway August 23 in Milwaukee.

The event will air on Fox News Channel and be streamed live on Rumble, which is co-hosting the event along with RNC, Fox and the Young America’s Foundation.

Fox News reported that Trump had indicated both publicly and privately that he might skip the Milwaukee debate, in part because of his large lead over the rest of the field, but aides say no final decision has been made.

Trump’s standout performance in the first Republican presidential debate a August 2015 boosted his successful bid to become the 2016 GOP nominee.

the hill informed candidates must meet certain criteria to qualify for the Fox debate, including showing at least 1 percent support in polls, having 40,000 unique donors, with at least 200 unique donors from 20 or more states and territories, and sign a pledge of loyalty. to support the eventual candidate of the Republican Party.

Candidates who say they have met that threshold in addition to Trump include DeSantis, Pence, Haley and Scott.

Carlson’s hosting of the Blaze TV candidate forum will undoubtedly be his most high-profile appearance since Fox News dismissed him in April

Fox did not offer a reason why, however The Los Angeles Times reported, citing unnamed sources, that the decision to fire Carlson came directly from Fox Corp. Chairman Rupert Murdoch.

Part of the reason, it is said, was that Murdoch was unhappy with Carlson’s coverage of January 6, 2021, Raid on the Capitolspecifically when he questioned what role federal law enforcement agencies might have played that day.

The move came the same week Fox agreed to pay Dominion Voting Systems $787.5 million in defamation suit alleging news channel coverage of use of its voting machines in 2020 election damaged company’s reputation in industry .

Both Dominion and Fox have it denied Carlson’s removal was part of the settlement agreement.

In May, Carlson announced would host an online show on Twitter.

His shows have succeeded millions of views each since its first broadcast last month.