Former Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie slammed former President Donald Trump for saying the Republican National Committee should cancel the remaining Republican presidential debates.
Christie said that Trump is scared of other candidates getting exposure to Republican voters as the reason for his pleas to the RNC while speaking on CNN's Erin Burnett OutFront on Friday.
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“He wants to end these things for purely selfish reasons because he doesn’t want to give exposure to the candidates who are challenging him out there,” Christie said.
Trump has said that the RNC should cancel the remaining debates, citing his national polling lead over the other Republican candidates. The former president has not attended either of the first two Republican debates.
"I’m up 56 Points, so the Debates would seem to be a complete waste of time. I’m also up 10 on Crooked Joe! What is the RNC doing? They should be fighting against Election Interference & the Pennsylvania Voter Registration Scam. The Debates should be ENDED, BAD for the Republican Party!" Trump said in a post on Truth Social on Thursday.
The former New Jersey governor pointed to Trump's lower poll numbers in Iowa and New Hampshire rather than the national polling data, arguing it is not a national primary and, therefore, the national polls are irrelevant.
“He has no validity to the point he’s making. He’s ducking these debates,” And It’s wrong, and it’s disrespectful to Republican voters, and that’s why I’m going to continue to push for these debates to go forward,” Christie said.
The next Republican debate is scheduled for Nov. 8 in Miami, Florida, and Christie seems optimistic it will still go on as planned.
"From talking to the folks at the RNC after the last debate, we were talking about the next one in Miami, and I thought they’ll just ignore what's obviously self-serving, bad advice from Donald Trump," Christie said.
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Trump skipped the second Republican presidential debate at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, California, opting instead to speak in Michigan.
The former president remains far ahead of the other Republican candidates based on the RealClearPolitics polling average, but a recent CBS News poll showed that in New Hampshire and Iowa, only 23% and 20% of GOP voters, respectively, are only considering Trump.