Donald Trump May Join Next Republican Debate, Secret Service Involved

Donald Trump may be thinking about going head-to-head with the other Republicans who are challenging him for the presidential nomination because we've learned the Secret Service has already scoped out the venue.

The next debate is scheduled for December 6 at the Moody Music Building Concert Hall at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa. The debate will be carried live on NewsNation. The network announced last Thursday it will host the debate, and sources with direct knowledge tell TMZ ... that same day Secret Service agents came to the venue and walked the premises ... inside and out.

The only candidate who has Secret Service protection is Donald Trump, who, as a former President, will be shadowed for life by the agency.

Trump has passed on the previous debates this year and there has been no obvious evidence he'll change course, given he's light-years ahead of the other candidates in the polls. But the Secret Service walk-through suggests he's thinking about showing up.

What's especially interesting ... one of the 3 moderators of the debate is Megyn Kelly, who famously sparred with Trump during a Republican debate back in 2015. The ratings went through the roof for that debate, and Trump is obsessed with ratings, so who knows?