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Megyn Kelly will host a two-hour “voters summit” broadcast special on Wednesday, but Donald J. Trump won’t be joining her.

Mr. Trump, the leading Republican candidate, declined to participate in the panel, scheduled for the night before the next Republican debate, citing the last-minute invitation and prior commitments.

“The campaign has a previous engagement in Virginia and then New York, which could not be rescheduled,” Hope Hicks, a spokeswoman for the campaign, said in a statement. “Given this was just proposed at the last minute it was not possible to change our plans in order to attend. Mr. Trump looks forward to participating in the next Fox News debate.”

In order to quell any rumors that Mr. Trump’s declining was because of lingering animosity — he has harshly criticized her in the past — Ms. Kelly took to Twitter on Monday night.

“Trump’s team is correct-we only scheduled this last-minute,” she wrote on Twitter. “They were very polite & we’re happy we’ll see him in MI.”

The prime-time special, “The Kelly File: Face to Face With Candidates,” will be broadcast from Houston, the site of the debate on Thursday. It will feature one-on-one interviews with the other Republican candidates.

Ben Carson and Ted Cruz will do the interviews live; John Kasich and Marco Rubio will join by satellite.

