Donald Trump dismissed his Republican rivals for the US presidency as they went head to head in the first debate on Wednesday.

The former president, the early frontrunner to secure the party’s nomination, skipped the first presidential debate in Milwaukee, opting for a pre-recorded interview with former Fox News host Tucker Carlson on X, the website formerly known as Twitter.

The interview was posted online five minutes before the debate between eight candidates aired on Fox News.

In the 46-minute interview, Mr Trump said: “Do I sit there for an hour or two hours, whatever it’s going to be, and get harassed by people that shouldn’t even be running for president?”

“Should I be doing that at a network that isn’t particularly friendly to me?”

Mr Trump attacked some of his rivals, calling former Arkansas governor Asa Hutchinson “nasty,” and cited him as an example of someone who should not be on the debate stage, along with former New Jersey governor Chris Christie.

Both candidates have been critical of Mr Trump and said he should not be running for president.

“I’m going to have all these people screaming at me, shouting questions at me, all of which I love answering, I love doing. But it doesn’t make sense to do them so I’m taking a pass,” Mr Trump said.

Mr Trump, who is facing a barrage of legal problems — including in Georgia where he is expected to turn himself in on Thursday for booking on state charges of conspiring to overthrow the 2020 presidential election — has said it is beneath him to appear with the other candidates on the Milwaukee debate stage because of his large lead in the polls.

His ongoing feud with Fox News seemed to cement his decision.

He has continued to align himself with those espousing extreme views and conspiracies while wrapping his campaign around bogus claims about the last election.

Mr Carlson tried to engage Mr Trump in conspiracy theories about disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein and then asked if his political opponents might threaten his life, which the former president did not dismiss.

“They are savage animals. They are people that are sick. Really sick. You have great people in the Democrat Party, great people that are Democrats,” Mr Trump said. “But I’ve seen what they do, I’ve seen the lengths that they go to.”

He also told Mr Carlson: “I think it was a terrible move getting rid of you.”

In the debate in Milwaukee, most of the participants raised their hands to say they would support Mr Trump as the party’s nominee, even if he was convicted in a court of law – even after the moderators noted that  Mr Trump is facing more than 90 criminal counts in separate cases across four states.