Speaking to CNN’s Jake Tapper over the weekend, former New Jersey governor and 2024 GOP presidential contender Chris Christie lashed out at former President Donald Trump, describing the Republican frontrunner as a “liar” and a “coward.”
Tapper offered Christie an opportunity to respond to comments made by the former president over the weekend relating to criminal charges filed against him. During a speech at the Turning Point Action conference, the former president slammed the “radical left Democrats, Marxists, communists, and fascists” for their efforts to lock him up.
The president said that every time the authorities indict him, he considers it to be a “great badge of honor and courage.”
“I’m doing it for you,” Trump said. “I’m being indicted for you. Better me than you, right?”
Christie responded to the clip, arguing that the indictment of the former president was entirely fair.
“He’s a liar and a coward. He’s not getting indicted for anyone other than for his own conduct,” Christie said. “There’s no other of the 200 million Americans he spoek about who illegally retained classified national secrets after being asked politely, quietly, and professionally for 18 months to voluntarily turn them back over after he left the White house. There’s no other of those 200 million Americans who lied to their own lawyers about where those documents were, and there’s none of those other 200 million Americans who lied to the prosecutors about it and flashed around documents regarding an Iranian war plan to people who didn’t have the clearance to see them.”
The comments should come as no surprise to anybody familiar with Christie’s position on the former president and his third run for the White House. Christie’s campaign, already lagging in the polls and unlikely to succeed save some dramatic, historic shift within the GOP, is based almost entirely on opposing the former president.
This week, reports revealed how a super PAC supporting the former New Jersey governor’s bid for the presidency released a new ad focused entirely on the former president, mocking his refusal to commit to participating in the first GOP primary debate.
The ad, titled “Trump’s Choice,” asks whether the former president is a “chicken” or a “loser.”
“We know what’s in your head, Donald. Now that Chris Christie has qualified, should you show up to the debate? Because if you do, your opponents will bring up the impeachments, the indictments. Bring up how you lost to Joe Biden, lost the House, lost the Senate,” the ad, produced by the Tell It Like It Is Super PAC, says.
““That’s what they’ll say if you show up, especially that guy Christie. But if you don’t go, you’ll be called a coward, a chicken. Reduced to throwing spitballs from the sidelines. So, Donald, you need to decide: Are you a chicken or just a loser?” it continues.
Former President Donald Trump pleaded not guilty in the classified documents case and denies all charges made against him.
Jack Buckby is 19FortyFive’s Breaking News Editor. He is a British author, counter-extremism researcher, and journalist based in New York. Reporting on the U.K., Europe, and the U.S., he works to analyze and understand left-wing and right-wing radicalization, and reports on Western governments’ approaches to the pressing issues of today. His books and research papers explore these themes and propose pragmatic solutions to our increasingly polarized society.
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