Chris Christie and Vivek Ramaswamy were going to have a dual appearance on Bret Baier’s Special Report on Fox News tonight but the RNC warned them if they did it, they wouldn’t be allowed to participate in the upcoming debate in Miami or any future debates.
The dual appearance was for the entire hour and it would have given them an opportunity to have more of a substantive discussion about issues than what they could do at the debate.
Here’s more from Politico:
The Republican National Committee told former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie and entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy Monday night that if they went through with a separate joint appearance on Fox News they would be forbidden from participating in subsequent committee-sanctioned debates.
The warning, relayed to POLITICO by a person familiar with the conversations, had an effect. The candidates and network have decided to change up the format. Instead of appearing side-by-side, they will now sit for two separate, back-to-back segments. The RNC approved of the new format, according to another person familiar with the matter and granted anonymity to discuss it freely.
The RNC has explicitly forbidden candidates from participating in non-sanctioned debates, though it is not always entirely clear where the line is drawn. Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is slated to debate California Gov. Gavin Newsom on Fox News, but it is believed that such a head-to-head doesn’t violate the committee’s rules as it is not explicitly a GOP primary forum.
The RNC’s warnings on Monday came after Christie and Ramaswamy each posted about their dual appearance on host Bret Baier’s Fox News 6 p.m. program Tuesday evening, describing it as an opportunity to have the type of substantive exchange that the committee-sanctioned debates have lacked.
“The GOP needs more actual argument on substance, not fake one-liners. I agreed to spar with @ChrisChristie tomorrow for a full hour on Fox at 6pm with @BretBaier,” posted Ramaswamy on X.
A spokesperson for Fox News did not immediately return a request for comment. A spokesperson for the RNC declined to comment.
I kinda wished they had done it because it would have been a great way to trim down the next debate because there are CLEARLY too many people in this race that shouldn’t be there.