In a highly anticipated event leading up to the Iowa caucuses, former President Donald Trump will be holding a town hall on Fox News Channel, directly opposite the Republican presidential debate on CNN. The CNN debate, to be held on January 10th in Des Moines, Iowa, will feature only two candidates, former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis. Trump's decision to skip the debate has drawn criticism from both Haley and DeSantis, who have urged him to join them on the debate stage.

The CNN debate, moderated by Jake Tapper and Dana Bash, will be the first to solely focus on the candidates vying to become Trump's chief competition. Trump has consistently led in polls of likely Republican voters, making his absence from the debates a strategic move to avoid lending credence to his lower-polling rivals. Instead, he has opted for competing events, such as his upcoming town hall on Fox News.

The town hall, which will begin at 9 p.m. ET, the same time as the CNN debate, will be moderated by Fox News anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum. This marks the first time Trump will sit with Baier and MacCallum jointly since May 2020. The event will focus on the leading issues facing voters ahead of the Iowa Caucus, which is scheduled for January 15th.

While Trump's decision to hold a town hall on Fox News may come as no surprise, it does pose a challenge for CNN, as they now have only two candidates participating in their debate. Businessman Vivek Ramaswamy and former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who both participated in the previous debate, did not meet CNN's qualification thresholds. Former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson also failed to qualify. Ramaswamy, who did not qualify for the CNN debate, announced on X that he will be doing a live-audience show with journalist Tim Pool on the same night.

In response to the limited number of candidates participating in the CNN debate, NBC News and The Des Moines Register will hold a series of 30-minute interviews with DeSantis, Haley, and Ramaswamy. However, Trump and Christie declined the interview requests from NBC.

The Republican National Committee has decided not to take part in the Jan. 10 GOP primary debate or any debates to follow, leaving it up to the candidates to decide if they want to participate. Iowa's status as the first state to hold a nominating contest has made it a key prize for presidential candidates. According to a recent CBS News poll, Trump is the easy favorite in Iowa, with 58% support among likely GOP caucus goers, compared to DeSantis's 22% and Haley's 13%.

Overall, the upcoming events in Iowa are expected to shape the trajectory of the Republican primary race, as candidates vie for support ahead of the state's first-in-the-nation GOP voting contest. With Trump opting for a town hall on Fox News, and only two candidates participating in the CNN debate, the stage is set for a crucial showdown in the race for the Republican nomination.