GOP presidential candidate Chris Christie is raising funds off his now-cancelled joint Fox News appearance with rival Vivek Ramaswamy.
“Voters need more information, not less. That’s why I agreed to go one-on-one with Vivek Ramaswamy on Fox News,” Christie wrote on X, the platform previously known as Twitter. “But Trump allies in the [Republican National Committee (RNC)] put an end to it. They’re silencing real conversation, and now Trump is even calling on the RNC to cancel debates. Nothing new… Party bosses doing everything possible to keep Trump in power.”
At the end of the post, Christie asked supporters to be “a part of the team that puts an end to Trump TODAY” by donating to his campaign.
Fox News’s Bret Baier said Monday that he planned to debut a new segment during “Special Report” loosely titled “Candidates Corner,” where he planned to host Christie and Ramaswamy as its first guests. Ramaswamy wrote on X that he had “agreed to spar” with Christie on the new segment the following day.
However, the RNC moved to prevent a joint appearance between the candidates. A person familiar with conversations between the RNC and candidates told Politico on Tuesday that the two candidates would be banned from appearing in future RNC debates if they went through with the appearance.
Christie wrote on X on Tuesday morning that he and Ramaswamy “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,” calling the move “disappointing.”
Ramaswamy also expressed outrage, writing that “last week’s RNC debate was a disgrace, and I’m starting to believe that was by design.”
Both White House hopefuls signed a pledge, which was obtained by The Hill, when declaring their candidacy for the GOP nomination that states that both candidates acknowledged and accepted that if they “participate in any debate that has not been sanctioned by the RNC, I will not be eligible to participate in any further Republican National Committee sanctioned debates.”
The candidates were slated to appear separately on Tuesday’s segment of “Special Report,” but Baier said that it would be postponed to Wednesday due to the news of the House ousting former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) from his position Tuesday afternoon.
The Hill has reached out to Ramaswamy’s campaign for comment.