CNN —
The 2024 Republican presidential primary is set to enter a new phase this week, but it’s one that will play out across two stages – in Milwaukee, where at least seven contenders will meet Wednesday night for the first GOP debate of the cycle, and in the drama surrounding the legal woes of the front-runner, former President Donald Trump.
Trump announced Sunday he’s skipping the first debate, effectively depriving his intraparty rivals of oxygen in a week when his surrender and arraignment in Fulton County, Georgia, will also dominate headlines.
Writing on his social media platform, the former president said that the public already “knows
