Ramaswamy, Christie to appear separately on Fox News after RNC debate ban threat

Republican presidential candidates Vivek Ramaswamy and Chris Christie will appear separately Tuesday during “Special Report,” Fox News’s nightly evening newscast, after being threatened with a ban from participating in future GOP debates if they appeared jointly on the network.

Bret Baier, the network’s chief political anchor, during Monday’s broadcast announced his show had plans to debut a new segment loosely titled “candidates corner” and feature Ramaswamy and Christie as its first guests.

Minutes before Baier made the announcement on air, Ramaswamy wrote on X, the platform formerly known as Twitter, that he had “agreed to spar” with Christie on “Special Report” the next day.

A person familiar with conversations between the Republican National Committee (RNC) and the candidates’ campaigns told Politico Tuesday that the candidates were told by the RNC that if they went through with a joint appearance on Fox, they would be forbidden from participating in future committee-sanctioned debates.

Tuesday morning, Christie wrote on X 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 decision “disappointing.”

Ramaswamy echoed Christie’s outrage, writing that, “last week’s RNC debate was a disgrace, and I’m starting to believe that was by design.”

“This is what a brokered and rigged nomination process looks like,” Ramaswamy said.

A copy of a pledge signed by both Ramaswamy and Christie when they declared their candidacy for the GOP nomination, which was obtained by The Hill, 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.”

In a statement on Tuesday, a spokesperson for the RNC said “the same candidates complaining about the rules governing RNC debates all signed a pledge and agreed months ago to not participate in unsanctioned debates.” 

“The RNC will continue to enact a fair, transparent debate process and we will not give in to pressure from individuals seeking to change the rules to favor their candidacy,” the spokesperson said.

Ramaswamy and Christie remain scheduled to appear separately on “Special Report” Tuesday.

The two GOP hopefuls both trail former President Trump, who has skipped the first two Republican debates, citing his large polling lead.

Trump’s campaign has separately called on the RNC to cancel all future debate plans and rally around the former president as its nominee.

— Updated 3:42 p.m.