Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a 2024 Republican presidential candidate, called former President Donald Trump a "coward" on Friday after Trump said he won't participate in Wednesday's Republican National Committee primary debate.
"Apparently [Trump] is very scared of me because it looks like he's not going to show up [to the debate] on Wednesday," Christie said on MSNBC. "If he believes he should be the nominee, if he believes he has such a great record, if he believes he is the best person to go against [President] Joe Biden, then show up on Wednesday night and stop being such a coward."
Trump indicated on his Truth Social platform Friday that won't attend the debate in Milwaukee, where eight of the 12 GOP candidates, including Trump, met the RNC criteria to be on the stage.
"Many people are asking whether or not I will be doing the debates," Trump posted Friday. "All Americans have been clamoring for a president of extremely high Intelligence. As everyone is aware, my poll numbers over a 'wonderful' field of Republican candidates are extraordinary.
"In fact, I am leading the runner-up, whoever that may now be, by more than 50 Points. [Former President Ronald] Reagan didn't do it, and neither did others. People know my Record, one of the best ever, so why would I Debate? I'm your man. Make America great again!"
To participate in the RNC's first primary debate, candidates are required to have at least 40,000 unique donors to their principal campaign committees, with at least 200 in each of 20 or more states, and poll at least 1% in three national polls, or poll at 1% in two national polls, and an additional poll of 1% from two different early voting states, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Excluding Trump, Christie would be joined at the debate by Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis; GOP Sen. Rick Scott, R-S.C.; former Vice President Mike Pence; former North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum; former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley; and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy.
The political polling website FiveThirtyEight has Trump leading the field with 54.5%, followed by DeSantis with 15.4%, Ramaswamy with 7.9%, Pence at 5.1%, Haley at 3.7%, Christie at 3.3%, and Scott at 2.9%.
In a separate story Friday, The Wall Street Journal reported that Trump may use the time of the debate to have an interview with fired Fox host Tucker Carlson, who has moved his reporting to the social media platform X.
According to the report, Trump is willing to do the interview, but nothing has been finalized.
Charles Kim ✉
Charles Kim, a Newsmax general assignment writer, is an award-winning journalist with more than 30 years in reporting on news and politics.
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