Former Vice President Mike Pence has declined an invitation to the Conservative Political Action Conference, sources told ABC News.
The decision by Pence, who is debating a 2024 presidential run, comes as other notable figures are absent from this year's lineup.
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, who spoke at CPAC last year, has two events scheduled in Texas as CPAC gets underway in Maryland.
A spokesperson for CPAC told ABC News that neither Pence nor DeSantis are currently slated to attend.
DeSantis' spokesperson did not respond to ABC News' request for comment. A spokesperson for Pence declined to comment.
Pence did not attend the event in 2022 and declined an invitation in 2021. This year's absences come as the chairman of CPAC -- which bills itself as the "largest and most influential gathering of conservatives in the world" -- is embroiled in a sexual assault scandal.
Earlier this year, a staffer for one-time Senate candidate Herschel Walker alleged that Matt Schlapp, the chairman of CPAC, "groped" and "fondled" his crotch while he was driving Schlapp back from a bar in Atlanta, according to a report from The Daily Beast. The staffer then filed a lawsuit against Schlapp and his wife, Mercedes, seeking $9.4 million for sexual battery and defamation, according to a report.
A statement from Schlapp's attorney at the time said the complaint is "false" and the "Schlapps and their legal team are...
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