Washington
CNN
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Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie said Sunday that it was a “futile idea” to force GOP candidates in 2024 to sign a pledge to support the party’s final nominee to participate in the primary debates.
“It’s only in the era of Donald Trump that you need someone to sign something in a pledge. So I think it’s a bad idea,” the former New Jersey governor told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union” on the requirement of the Republican National Committee.
Christie, who launched his presidential bid earlier this month, said he has expressed his views directly to RNC Chair Ronna McDaniel, “so this is not the first time I’ve heard that.”
But he claimed he would do whatever it took “to get on stage to try to save my party and save my country from going down the path of being led by three-time loser Donald Trump,” saying the former president cost him party in the House in 2018 and the White House and Senate in 2020, and was responsible for “the worst midterm performance we’ve seen in a long, long time” in 2022.
“I will take the pledge in 2024 as seriously as Donald Trump took it in 2016,” Christie said.
Trump, as a candidate in 2015, did not rule out an independent bid for the presidency in a debate in Cleveland. Finally, he signed a pledge to support the party’s eventual nominee and not to run as a third-party candidate if he did not win the Republican nomination.
McDaniel has repeatedly supported requiring the so-called Pledge of Allegiance for participation in GOP debates, and told CNN on Friday that it was a no-brainer.
“Once it’s all over and the dust has settled and you’ve made your best case, if the voters pick someone else, you need to stand behind whoever the voters picked and make sure we get past Joe Biden.” , McDaniel said. “We cannot have division. We can’t have people get on the debate stage and come out and say, “I’m not going to support the eventual nominee.”
Most of the GOP primary field has supported the pledge, including most recently former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, whose campaign had previously sought to modify the pledge.
“You have to make the pledge based on the fact that Donald Trump is not going to be our nominee and you’re sure of that. So you can sign a statement saying you’re going to support the party’s nominee. You know, I’m not going to support, just like other voters will not support, someone for president who is impeached,” Hutchinson told ABC News on Sunday.
Trump pleaded not guilty in federal court last week to 37 charges related to his alleged mishandling of classified documents after leaving office.
The RNC announced earlier this month that the first debate of the presidential primary will take place on August 23 in Milwaukee. Qualified candidates must register at least 1% in three national polls, or a combination of national polls and a poll of early voting states recognized by the RNC. Candidates will also need “a minimum of 40,000 unique donors to the candidate’s main presidential campaign committee (or exploratory committee), with at least 200 unique donors per state or territory in more than 20 states and/or territories,” the RNC said in a statement
A recent CNN poll found that Trump was the first choice of 53 percent of Republican and GOP-leaning primary voters, roughly doubling Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ 26 percent. Other contenders were all polling in the single digits, including Christie, Hutchinson, former Vice President Mike Pence, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott.
Another promise making waves in Republican presidential circles is a call by GOP candidate Vivek Ramaswamy for 2024 candidates to pledge to pardon Trump if elected president.
Pence said Sunday it was “premature” to discuss such a pardon, telling NBC News: “I don’t know why some of my competitors in the Republican primary are presuming the president will be found guilty.”
But he said he would evaluate any request for a pardon if he wins the White House.
“We need to let the courts do their job. And let this case work its way through our court system,” the former vice president told NBC News. “If I have the great privilege of being president of the United States, as I did when I was governor, (we would evaluate) any request for a pardon for any American.”
Scott did not respond Sunday when asked if he would join Ramaswamy in his pledge or if he thought Trump’s accusation was unfounded.
“I’m not going to deal with hypotheticals, but I will say that all Americans are innocent until proven guilty,” the Republican senator told Fox News.
But Haley, another presidential candidate from South Carolina, said last week that she would be inclined to pardon Trump if elected president because, she argued, “it’s less about guilt and more about what’s good for in the country”.
This story has been updated with additional information.
