Fact Check: Did Donald Trump Call to Suspend the Constitution?

The Republican Party's 2024 candidates, with the notable exception of former President Donald Trump, took part in the first GOP primary debate on Fox News on Wednesday evening.

Despite the absence of the leading contender, most candidates avoided criticizing him.

Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie did not hold back however, receiving jeers from the crowd and rebuke from fellow candidate and biotech entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy for doing so.

At one point, Christie said Trump proposed suspending the Constitution.

The Claim

During Wednesday evening's televised GOP primary debate, Chris Christie claimed that Donald Trump had said "it is okay to suspend the Constitution."

Christie added: "Donald Trump said it is okay to suspend the Constitution. The vote you take is to preserve, protect and defend, not suspend. I will always stand up for our Constitution regardless of the political pressure."

The Facts

In December 2022, Donald Trump was pushing the baseless claim that he lost the 2020 election due to widespread voter fraud,

"A Massive Fraud of this type and magnitude allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution," Trump wrote on Truth Social on December 3, 2022. "Our great 'Founder' did not want, and would not condone, False & Fraudulent Elections!"

The former president's post was denounced by the White House and led to calls urging for then House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy to intervene.

Trump later attempted to walk back his statement, writing via Truth Social on December 5 that :"The Fake News is actually trying to convince the American People that I said I wanted to 'terminate' the Constitution. This is simply more DISINFORMATION & LIES."

"What I said was that when there is 'MASSIVE & WIDESPREAD FRAUD & DECEPTION,' as has been irrefutably proven in the 2020 Presidential Election, steps must be immediately taken to RIGHT THE WRONG," Trump added. "Only FOOLS would disagree with that and accept STOLEN ELECTIONS. MAGA!"

Christie's argument does not spell out the context of Trump's claim, and paraphrases the former president's words. Christie said Trump had said it is okay to suspend the Constitution.

Trump had raised the notion of "termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution." Termination rather than suspension.

While Trump chose not to appear along Christie and his other 2024 candidates, saying his lead in the polls justified his absence, he did speak to former Fox News host Tucker Carlson in an interview posted on X, formerly Twitter, on Wednesday.

According to X statistics, the conversation attracted 100 million views, although this only measures the number of people who saw the post, even fleetingly

The Ruling

True.

In December 2022, while continuing to push the false claim that he lost the 2020 election due to widespread voter fraud, Trump suggested the "termination of all rules...even those found in the Constitution" was merited.

While Chris Christie paraphrased Trump's argument, his characterization roughly fits what the former president said.

FACT CHECK BY Newsweek's Fact Check team