DeSantis Slams Haley for Refusing to Debate Him on Fox – Which the RNC Has Said Would Disqualify Candidates From GOP Debates

Republican presidential candidate and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis criticized rival Nikki Haley for declining to debate him on Fox News, a move that the Republican National Committee has already said would disqualify candidates from future sanctioned debates.

Earlier this month, Fox News host Laura Ingraham offered to host DeSantis and the former South Carolina governor on The Ingraham Angle to debate.

“Count me in,” DeSantis declared on social media. Haley’s campaign, meanwhile, did not respond.

But the RNC has already put the kibosh on such events. Last month, GOP presidential candidates Chris Christie and Vivek Ramaswamy were set to tangle on Fox News in a debate moderated by Bret Baier.

As the New York Times reported at the time, “[A]ccording to a person familiar with the discussions, the R.N.C. told the candidates that if they went through with the one-on-one event, they would not be allowed to participate in future R.N.C.-sanctioned debates.”

To participate in sanctioned RNC debates, candidates must promise to participate “in only Primary and General Election debates that have been sanctioned by the Republican National Committee.” Fox did not advertise the Christie-Ramaswamy event as a debate, instead calling it “Candidates’ Corner.”

Ingraham’s invitation to Haley and DeSantis, on the other hand, specifically referenced as “debate.”

“Why do you think Nikki Haley has not responded yet?” Ingraham asked DeSantis on Monday night.

“Well, she probably wouldn’t like what the debate would be about. I mean, I think she has taken very, very establishment-oriented positions,” he replied. “We know she had the social media proposal to force everybody to give their names, which we know would be weaponized against conservatives.”

The governor went on to tout his war on Disney before adding, “I’ll debate any of these folks. I think that’s what it is all about.”

Both DeSantis and Haley are polling well behind former President Donald Trump for the Republican nomination. Trump has so far boycotted every debate.

Watch above via Fox News.