Christie and Ramaswamy Cancel Joint Fox News Appearance After RNC Threatens Future Debate Ban
The Republican National Committee has shut down a planned joint appearance on Fox News’ Special Report by GOP presidential hopefuls Chris Christie and Vivek Ramaswamy.
The two had planned to join Fox’s Bret Baier for the duration of the show on Tuesday, but decided to appear for back-to-back segments after the RNC threatened to exclude Christie and Ramaswamy from future GOP debates if they followed through with the joint appearance.
But although the candidates agreed to amend their plans to ensure they’d be able to participate in future debates, both expressed outrage over the meddling.
“Last week’s RNC debate was a disgrace, and I’m starting to believe that was by design,” wrote Ramaswamy in a statement delivered to Politico. “This is what a brokered & rigged nomination process looks like. I disagree like hell with Chris Christie but when they asked me to face off with him, I said I’d be a man & do it – before the RNC intervened to cut it off. Instead of allowing open dialogue & the airing of ideas to give primary voters a real choice, the Establishment would rather cut backroom deals & offer up phony debates including candidates with no viable path and questions that no voter would ever ask. The Establishment was hellbent on taking down Trump. Now they’re hellbent on propping up their favored puppets.”
Christie concurred, arguing on X that “voters need more information not less. Our Party needs more debates and in-depth discussions not less. This is common sense and the bedrock of our Republic. When the RNC stops conversations between candidates from happening that is real cause for concern.”
He continued:
One of the main things that @VivekGRamaswamy and I agree on is the right of the American public to fully hear and understand what each candidate believes and with as little filter as possible. I appreciate @VivekGRamaswamy’s willingness to engage in that conversation with me.
It is very disappointing that we were threatened with exclusion from the Miami debate and future debates for trying to have a more complete dialogue with each other and the voters. Every campaign was offered that opportunity by Fox News and they have now been effectively banned by the RNC.
I am always up for those discussions – it’s a shame the RNC and @realDonaldTrump
aren’t.
The Trump campaign — whose principal has vowed not to appear at any of the officially sanctioned Republican debates — has called for RNC to cancel the remaining ones on the schedule.
Christie and Ramaswamy will appear on Special Report at 6:00pm Eastern Time on Tuesday.
