Republican presidential outsider Chris Christie has claimed “it’s over” for frontrunner Donald Trump, predicting a criminal conviction for the former president as part of his four indictments.
Trump has been criminally charged on 91 separate counts, and is currently battling a civil fraud dispute in New York. The ongoing trial, in which Trump is being sued for $250million, has so far cost the former president $15,000 for repeated violations of gag orders.
While deemed unconstitutional by critics, gag orders are used to protect witnesses, prosecutors and others involved in a legal case. Given his ambition to turn his legal fight into a political one, prosecutors have sought to impose them on the outspoken former president.
Special Counsel Jack Smith, who is prosecuting Trump in Washington D.C., has sought a gag order in the federal election interference indictment. In the same week, Trump’s former chief of staff Mark Meadows was granted an immunity deal to avoid prosecution and will now be expected to testify when the case comes to trial.
Chris Christie’s Criticism
With Trump facing a restriction on his comments to the courtroom and Meadows set to testify, Republican candidate and former New Jersey Gov. Christie said he believes Trump’s election chances have slimmed.
“This is a guy who was Velcro to Trump’s hip for the entire 2020 campaign and all the post-campaign nonsense,” Christie said of Meadows in an MSNBC interview. “And so this is deadly, it’s done. He’s going to be convicted. … It’s over.”
“I want Republican voters to understand this — what’s going to be happening in March? He’s going to be sitting in a courtroom in Washington, D.C., with Mark Meadows 20 feet away from him, saying, ‘He committed crimes in front of me on my watch,’” Christie added.
Meadows will still stand trial in the Georgia election interference case, after being charged with 18 others, including Trump. However, at a federal level, the former chief of staff will not face prosecution.
Trump’s Delays
The former president’s legal team has sought to delay the trial, while also having explored moving it away from the Democrat stronghold of the Capitol. “I don’t have the impression that this district court judge in Washington is amenable to delay,” Christie said, adding that he thinks Smith purposely only indicted Trump in the January 6 case. “She has not given much at this point into the defense claims for delay, and I think that’s why Jack Smith indicted this case with just Trump, right? Because you don’t have multiple defendants. … This is it.”
Despite his staunch opposition to Trump, Christie objected to Meadows’ immunity in an interview last week. “You don’t give Mark Meadows immunity,” the former governor said, “unless the evidence he has is unimpeachable.”
Shay Bottomley is a British journalist based in Canada. He has written for the Western Standard, Maidenhead Advertiser, Slough Express, Windsor Express, Berkshire Live and Southend Echo, and has covered notable events including the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee.
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