Chris Christie (Republican)

March 29, 2023: Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has vowed not to support former President Donald Trump in 2024, making him the first candidate in a field of potential GOP presidential candidates to explicitly say so. (Business Insider)

“I can’t help him. No way.” Christie told Axios in an interview published on Tuesday.

“Look, I just can’t. When you have the Jan. 6 choir at a rally and you show a video of it – I just don’t think that person is appropriate for the presidency,” Christie told Axios.

He was referring to “Justice for All,” a song sung by a group of men incarcerated for their suspected role in the Capitol riot. Known collectively as the J6 Prison Choir, they sang a rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner” from behind bars, with Trump adding a Voiceover of the Pledge of Allegiance…

…But Christie has distanced himself from Trump in the last year and is now a vocal Trump critic. In November, he called out other GOP politicians for being too scared to disavow Trump…

…Christie’s comments to Axios come as he mulls a 2024 presidential bid of his own – which will put him on a collision course with Trump. He told Fox News on March 23 that he will “probably make a decision in the next 60 days on what to do or not to do.”

April 16, 2023: Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) said the various investigations into former President Trump make a hypothetical GOP presidential primary win “uncertain”. (The Hill)

“No, I don’t think that the field [is] starting to look like Trump,” Christie said on ABC’s “This Week.” “In fact, you know, when you’re indicted in one place, and you’re facing investigations [in] two others, it makes you at least an uncertain winner. But again, he’s the former president. So of course he’s going to be the frontrunner. He has the best name ID in the race, of anybody else running, but you already have four other candidates now who are announced in.”

Trump earlier this month became the first sitting or former U.S. president to face criminal charges and pleaded not guilty to 34 felony counts of falsifying business records. A 2024 candidate to retake the White House, he’s fundraised off the Manhattan prosecutor’s probe he has branded a “witch hunt.”

At the same time, Trump is also under scrutiny from two special counsel inquiries and another district attorney probe in Georgia…

April 21, 2023: Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie delivered his opening arguments against Donald Trump on Thursday, sounding like the prosecutor he once was and the presidential candidate he might become again. (NHPR)

“Tonight is the beginning of the case against Donald Trump,” Christie said in New Hampshire, where he devoted his entire opening remarks at a town hall meeting to pounding on the former president he once supported.

“You’re not going to beat someone by closing your eyes, clicking your heels together three times and saying ‘There’s no place like home.” That’s not going to work,” he said. “In American politics you want to beat somebody? You have to go get them.”

Christie called out several Republican candidates and potential candidates – including former Vice President Mike Pence and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley – for barely uttering Trump’s name and argued that Trump’s policy and character failures would only grow if he returns to office…

May 7, 2023: Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) warned on Sunday that a potential rematch between former President Trump and President Biden in 2024 would be “bad for the Republican Party.” (The Hill)

“I’m very concerned that what we’re heading towards is a Trump-Biden rematch,” Christie said in an interview with radio talk show host John Catsimatidis on WABC 770 AM’s “Cats Roundtable”. “A Trump-Biden rematch is bad for the Republican Party.”

“Donald Trump has done nothing but lose since he won the election in 2016,” Christie continued. “We lost the House in 2018. The Senate and the White House in 2020. We under-performed in 2022 and lost more governorships and another Senate seat. Donald Trump cannot win.”

Christie, who is considering a 2024 bid of his own, has sought to position himself as the Republican candidate who can take on Trump…

…The only way to beat the front runner is to take the front runner on directly,” he added.

May 31, 2023: Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is expected to announce his 2024 Republican candidacy for president next Tuesday in New Hampshire, Axios has learned.

Why it matters: Christie, 60, is a former close Trump ally who now calls the former president a “coward” and a “puppet of Putin.” He gives traditional Republicans a horse – but seems to have a narrow market in today’s GOP…

…Here’s what to expect from a Christie candidacy, per his team:

Being joyful and hitting a more hopeful note aimed at America’s “exhausted majority.”

Being authentic – a happy warrior who speaks his mind, takes risks and is happy to punch Donald Trump in the nose. Christie’s recent interviews and new Hampshire town halls aim to recapture the brio of his 2009 governor’s race.

Running a national race – “a non-traditional campaign that is highly focused on earned media, mixing it up in the news cycle and engaging Trump,” an adviser said. “Will not be geographic dependent, but nimble.”…

June 10, 2023: Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, a GOP presidential candidate for 2024, said the details of the federal indictment against former President Trump are “devastating.” (The Hill)

“The fact is that these facts are devastating,” Christie told CNN’s Jake Tapper in an interview Friday.

Christie noted that the indictment accuses Trump of directing which documents were to be packed in boxes upon leaving the White House at the end of his presidency, that they should be sent to Mar-a-Lago and where they should be placed while they were at Mar-a-Lago.

He said Trump is also accused of directing the documents to be taken with him to his golf club in Bedminister, N.J., when he went there during the summer and continuing to “stonewall” investigators who were trying to get the documents returned to government recordkeepers.

“The bigger issue for our country is, is this the type of conduct that we want from someone who wants to be president of the United States?” Christie said…

June 12, 2023: Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) suggested that Americans shouldn’t be worried about a possible federal abortion ban if he was elected president, as Republican challengers have faced increasing pressure to adopt stricter abortion policies. (The Hill)

“What I stand for, Anderson, is what conservative have been arguing about for 50 years, which is that Roe [v. Wade] was wrong, there’s no federal constitutional right to an abortion and that the states should decide. And I absolutely believe that each state should make their decision on this,” Christie told host Anderson Cooper during a CNN town hall Monday.

“The federal government should not be involved unless and until there’s a consensus around the country from the 50 states making their own decisions about what it should be. And if at that time, there’s a consensus that has emerged, well then, that’s fine,” he added…

June 12, 2023: Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) argues that former President Trump “will care less about the country this time than he did four years ago” as he seeks to make that case against reelecting Trump in 2024. (The Hill)

Christie argued agains the idea of reelecting Trump or President Biden during a CNN town hall in New York on Monday, saying that “if those two people are the nominees, they are going to be a combined 160 years old on Election Day.”

Biden is 80 years old and Trump is 76 years, meaning they are a combined 156 years old.

The former New Jersey governor said of Biden that he didn’t want to see Biden reelected because “I disagree with President Biden, vehemently, philosophically.” But he argued that Trump also shouldn’t be reelected because “he will care less about the country this time than he did four years ago. This is personal now.”…

…Christie announced his 2024 White House bid last week, though his campaign is considered a longshot in the crowded 2024 GOP primary. He’s pitched himself as chief Trump antagonist, arguing Republicans need to move on from the former president…

June 17, 2023: A super PAC supporting former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s (R) bid for the White House is airing a new advertisement attacking former President Trump for not committing to participating in the first Republican National Committee primary debate in August. (The Hill)

In the advertisement, entitled: “Trump’s Choice,” the Tell It Like It Is Super PAC tries to bait the leading 2024 GOP presidential candidate by asking him, “Are you a chicken or just a loser?”

“We know what’s in your head, Donald. Now that Chris Christie has qualified, should you show up for 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 says, before listing what the PAC depicts as policy failures during Trump’s administration.

“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?” the ad concludes…

June 23, 2023: Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) this week said he opposes state laws that ban gender-affirming care for transgender young people, distancing himself from other Republicans on what is already shaping up to be a key issue in the race for the White House in 2024. (The Hill)

Christie said in a June 18 interview with Jake Tapper said that states should abandon efforts to ban or restrict gender-affirming health care for transgender children and adolescents, replacing them with policies that prioritize parental involvement in transition-related care for minors.

“I don’t think that the government should ever be stepping into the place of parents in helping move their children through a process where those children are confused or concerned about their gender,” said Christie, who launched his 2024 presidential bid earlier this month. “The parents are the people who are the best positioned to make these judgements.”

“What I’d like to make sure each state does is require that parents be involved in these decisions,” he continued, later adding: “Folks who are under the age of 18 should have parental support and guidance and love as they make all of the key decisions of their life, and this should not be one that’s excluded by the government in any way.”…

July 23, 2023: GOP presidential candidate Chris Christie pushed back Sunday against Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R), a fellow 2024 White House hopeful, over his reaction to the new slavery curriculum in Florida, claiming the governor is not displaying leadership. (The Hill)

“I didn’t do it’ and ‘I’m not involved in it’ are not the words of leadership,” Christie said in an interview with CBS’s Margaret Brennan on “Face The Nation.”

Christie, the former governor of New Jersey, was referring to DeSantis’s response to Vice President Harris, who recently called Florida’s now Black history education standards “propaganda.” The guidelines are based on Florida’s controversial law, which requires that race be taught in an “objective” manner that doesn’t seek to “indoctrinate or persuade students to a particular point of view.”

The guidelines sparked heavy criticism, specifically over the requirement of teachers to instruct on “how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.”…

July 26, 2023: Former New Jersey Gov Chris Christie said Wednesday that it seems like Donald Trump’s final White House chief of staff, Mark Meadows, might be cooperating with the federal probe into the former president. (NBC News)

Christie was reacting to a brief exchange captured on video Wednesday morning in Washing ton between Meadowland an NBC News reporter, who asked Meadows whether he has testified before a federal grand jury.

“I don’t talk about anything J6-related,” Meadows said, referring to special counsel Jack Smith’s probe into Trump’s role in the Jan. 6 2021, riot at the U.S. Capitol and efforts to overturn the 2020 election.

Asked whether he felt the investigation was appropriate, Meadows walked into a building.

“Watching that video,” Christie said in an interview on MSNBC’s “Andrea Mitchell Reports,” “That looks to me like somebody who is cooperating with the federal government.”…

August 6, 2023: Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie on Sunday pushed back on the argument that D.C. residents, who overwhelmingly supported President Biden over former President Trump in the 2020 presidential race, couldn’t be fair jurors in a trial related to Trump’s efforts to stay in power after the 2020 election. (The Hill)

“My view is, yes, I believe jurors can be fair. I believe in the American people. And I believe in the fact that jurors will listen fairly and impartially,” Christie told CNN’s Dana Bash in an interview on “State of the Union.”

Christie, the former New Jersey governor, invoked his experience as a Republican U.S. attorney in a predominantly blue state in making the case that jurors can judge the case fairly.

The latest indictment against Trump, related to his efforts to remain in power after losing the 2020 election, is being tried in the District of Columbia. Some Trump allies have argued that the political leanings of the potential jurors in D.C. and an Obama-appointed judge assigned to the case make it less likely that Trump will get a fair trial…

August 15, 2023: Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) has surpassed Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) in the critical early presidential primary state of New Hampshire, according to an Emerson College survey released Tuesday. (The Hill)

Christie leapfrogged DeSantis for second place in the Granite State, garnering 9 percent support. DeSantis’s support, on the other hand, fell from 8 percent to 17 percent in March. Christie’s 1-point lead over DeSantis falls within the poll’s plus-or-minus 3.4 percent margin of error…

…Christie’s campaign has maintained an intense focus on New Hampshire, while DeSantis’s team has prioritized Iowa. However, DeSantis has still made a number of trips to the Granite State.

Former President Trump still dominates the GOP primary field with 49 percent support, according to the same poll…

August 18, 2023: Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie called former President Trump a “certified loser, verified coward,” following a Friday report that the 2024 GOP front-runner plans to skip next week’s first primary debate. (The Hill)

“Surprise, surprise… the guy who is out on bail from four jurisdictions and can’t defend his reprehensible conduct, is running scared and hiding from the debate stage,” the former New Jersey governor wrote Friday in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter. “Trump – certified loser, verified coward.”

…Christie, a former Trump supporter who has become one of his most vocal critics, called on him multiple times in recent weeks to participate in the debate. Earlier this month, Christie said Trump not debating shows a “lack of respect,” for Republican voters. That same day, he responded to Trump’s attacks on his weight and challenged the former president to attend the debate and “say it to my face.”…

September 8, 2023: Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is still a Republican – after all, he’s running for that party’s presidential nomination, as he unsuccessfully did in 2016. But today, his views on Ukraine, on abortion and on other issues put him out of step with many in the party he hopes to lead. (NPR)

“Look, I think our country is in a much different place. And I think I’m a much different candidate than I was eight years ago,” Christie told NPR. “And I got into this race because I felt like no one was making that case. No one was willing to take the case directly to Donald Trump as to why he and through his conduct had disqualified himself for ever being president of the United States again. I want to make that case. I’ve been making that case. I think it’s important not only for my party, but for our country.”…

September 22, 2023: Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is calling out former President Trump for “hiding” behind Truth Social while Christie and the other GOP 2024 presidential candidates prepare for their second debate next week. (The Hill)

“Stop hiding behind your … failed social media site,” Christie said on Thursday on CNN.

Trump, who has a commanding lead in Republican primary polls, passed on the first debate and has said he will skip the second, which is set to tale place next Wednesday at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California.

Christie, who has frequently battled with Trump, said the former president needs to “stop being a coward” and “show up” to the debates if he has something to say. The remarks came after Trump hit the former governor as a “grifter” on Truth Social.

“He doesn’t like when people stand up to him and call him out on the nonsense that he’s involved in,” Christie told CNN Wolf Blitzer. “If he had any guts, he’d get on the debate stage.”

Christie pointed to recent polling out of New Hampshire that puts him ahead of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis in the GOP race. “He has stopped attacking Ron DeSantis and he started attacking me,” he said…

November 4, 2023: Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie was booed while walking on sage at the Florida Republican Party’s Freedom Summit event on Saturday. (The Hill)

“Now look, every one of those boos, everyone one of those cat calls, everyone one of those yells will not … solve one problem we face in this country,” Christie said. “Your anger against the truth is reprehensible.”…

…Christie told the displeased crowd that they could reject his arguments, he just needed to be able to say them first…

The problem is … you fear the truth,” he told the crowd. “You want to shout down any voice that says anything different than what you want to hear. And you can continue to do it. And believe me… it doesn’t bother me one bit”…

November 9, 2023: As President Joe Biden seeks to reassure Muslim American voters amid the Israel-Hamas war, the White House knocked Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis for downplaying what he called “so-called Islamophobia” at the GOP presidential debate Wednesday night. (NBC News)

“In what is a heartbreaking crisis, violence and hateful rhetoric against Muslims and Arab Americans and Sikhs is spiking across our country,” White House spokesperson Andrew Bates said Thursday in a statement to NBC News. “President Biden believes we have an urgent duty to come together as Americans and stand against every form of hate. It is not leadership to denigrate the very real pain that Islamophobia is causing: it is cynical and cruel. Nor is it leadership to spread the dangerous pretense that fighting against one kind of hate somehow subtracts from fighting another; that is only a sign of a desperate need for self-reflection.”

In the debate, DeSantis and some of the other Republican candidates said the government should focus on combatting antisemitism, not Islamophobia.

“What is Biden doing? Not only is he not helping the Jewish students who are being persecuted, he is launching an initiative to combat so-called Islamophobia. No, it’s the antisemitism that’s spiraling out of control. That is what we have to confront,” DeSantis said.

The White House on Thursday noted that Biden in May rolled out what was billed as the first-ever U.S. national strategy to fight antisemitism, months before he launched a similar effort to combat Islamophobia. Late last month, the White House announced an effort to counter antisemitism on college campuses….

…Muslims Americans voted overwhelmingly for Biden in 2020. But community leaders in swing states hav said they will defect from the president over his full-throated support of Israel.

November 11, 2023: Chris Christie’s campaign said Monday that the former New Jersey governor had hit the donor requirement for the GOP’s fourth presidential debate next month, as candidates work to meet the Republican National Committee (RNC) thresholds to get on the Tuscaloosa Ala., stage. (The Hill)

“Coming off the heels of Christie’s strong performance at the third debate last week, we’ve seen the best fundraising week of the campaign since he announced, bringing in thousands of new donors in just the five days since. The campaign now has well over 80,000 donors and meets all the criteria needed for the next debate,” a spokesperson for the campaign said in a memo.

The RNC required candidates to have 70,000 unique donors to get on the Miami debate stage last week and raised it to 80,000 for the next event.

The party also raised polling criteria to require candidates to reach at least 6 percent in two national polls – or 6 percent in one national poll and 6 percent in one early-state poll “from two separate ‘carve out’ states (Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, South Carolina) recognized by the RNC.” The polls must also meet a few other benchmarks, including some related to how many voters are surveyed and who conducts the poll…

…”Of the eight candidates at the first debate, two have been knocked off the stage, and two others have dropped out. We will bedgown to four come December,” the campaign said. “Christie has already outlasted a former Vice President, a current US Senator, a current self-funding governor, and another former governor who were all on that stage.

Just five candidates made the third debate in Miami…

November 16, 2023: GOP presidential candidate Chris Christie warned that former President Trump’s rhetoric, including his recent ‘vermin’ comment, could incite others. (The Hill)

“Well, I think that what he’s done with his use of language is to give permission to a lot of people who then believe they can take it even further.” Christie told CNN anchor Jake Tapper on “The Lead” on Wednesday. “And they can actualize the things that he said, weaponize the things that he’s saying. And most people won’t use that type of language, because they know there’s a risk of that.”

“He doesn’t care. He just doesn’t care, Jake. I mean, his view is if it’s good for him at that moment, he’ll do it,” the former New Jersey governor added.

Christie’s comments came after the former president pledged in remarks in New Hampshire over the weekend that if reelected, he would “root out the communists, Marxists, fascists, and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country,” warning of the “threat from within.”…

November 25, 2023: Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie on Sunday said former President Trump’s “intolerant” language contributed to widespread intolerance, including the recent rise of antisemitism in the United States. (The Hill)

“When you show intolerance towards everyone, which is what he does, you give permission as a leader for others to have their intolerance come out,” Christie said in an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday, referring to Trump.

“So intolerance towards anyone encourages intolerance towards everyone. And that’s exactly what’s going on here,” he said…

November 26, 2023: 2024 GOP Presidential primary candidate Chris Christie slammed calls for voters to consolidate their support behind either his campaign or fellow candidate Nikki Haley’s. (The Hill)

“The idea of people just doing math and adding up numbers, that’s not the way voters vote,” Christie said in an interview Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union”. “And, so, I would say to everybody out there: Let’s let the campaign move forward.”…

Asked whether he expects to be in the race through the New Hampshire primary, Christie says he expects to remain in the primary through the convention…

…Christie and Haley have emerged as two candidates with overlapping platforms – both are staunch supporters of Ukraine and Israel, and both are seen as more serious candidates with governing experience. While Christie has been more critical of former President Trump – the distant GOP front-runner in the race – Haley’s platform is more similar to his than to Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’s platform, which embraces a more expansionist view of executive power…

November 26, 2023: Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said he plans to stay in the Republican primary race through next summer’s nominating convention, dismissing a recent CNN poll that shows him trailing former President Donald Trump and former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley in New Hampshire – a state he’s invested heavily in winning. (CNN)

In an interview Sunday with CNN’s Dana Bash, Christie also brushed off the possibility of working with Haley or dropping out to consolidate support behind a candidate who can mount a serious challenge to Trump, the clear frontrunner in the race.

“I think Gov. Haley and I both have the same goal, and that is to be president of the United States,” Christie said on “State of the Union.” “I think we’re showing great momentum in New Hampshire. We’ve been gaining over the last couple of weeks. I think we’re going to continue to gain in that, in that fight. And I think we’re going to do very, very well in New Hampshire on January 23.”…

November 28, 2023: Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said Tuesday he would not sign a six-week federal abortion ban as president because he does not believe such legislation aligns with the views of the American public. (CNN)

“One thing I know for sure is there is no consensus around a six-week abortion ban nationally,” the GOP presidential candidate said Tuesday on “CNN This Morning,” pointing to recent victories at the ballot box for supporters of abortion rights since the landmark Roe v. Wade ruling was overturned last year.

Christie has said he personally opposes abortion and that he would only sign a federal bill restricting the procedure if it represented a national consensus, something he acknowledges would be difficult in a divided Congress…

By weighing in specifically on a six-week ban, Christie sought to draw a contrast with some of his Republican rivals on an issue that the party has struggled with following the elimination of federal abortion protections with the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision.

Christie told CNN he thinks his primary rival Nikki Haley’s recent comments saying she would sign a six-week abortion ban in her home state of South Carolina if she were still governor could make her potential general election prospects “much more difficult.”

“You could see when [Gov. Ron] DeSantis signed that bill in Florida, it certainly affected his popularity with a broader electorate,” Christie said, referring to a measure the Florida governor signed earlier this year to ban most abortions in the state after six weeks. (That law is currently on hold as the state Supreme Court decides a challenge to an earlier 15-week ban on the procedure.)…

December 1, 2023: Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie late Thursday urged fellow GOP candidate Nikki Haley to attack former President Trump by name. (The Hill)

“I just said his name out loud and lighting did not strike me. I did not fall dead of a heart attack. I have not been poisoned by a member of his staff,” Christie said at a town hall event in New Hampshire. “But you would think when you look at the rest of the folks in this race that they fear that’s what would happen if they said his name.”

Christie, a former New Jersey governor who has become an outspoken critic of Trump, then turned his attention to Haley, a former United Nation’s ambassador, who rolled out her first ad of the GOP primary cycle earlier that day.

Haley has made gains in polling and among donors while not explicitly targeting Trump. Her advertisement said a new generation of conservative leadership is needed and “we have to leave the chaos and drama of the past.”

Christie questioned what she meant by leaving the “chaos and drama” in the past.

“Why not say it?” he asked, pointing to Haley and the other candidates refusal to call out the former president.

“He’s not Voldemort from the Harry Potter books. He’s not he who shall not be named,” Christie said…

December 1, 2023: Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) said he is “confident” he will qualify for the fourth GOP primary debate next week. (The Hill)

“I’m confident that I’ll be on the stage for the debate,” he said in a CNN interview Friday. “Remember these same reports were made before the last debate about [Sen.] Tim Scott [R-S.C.], that he did not appear to qualify…

…Presidential hopefuls will need to be polling at 6 percent or higher in two national polls, or at 6 percent in one early state poll from two separate “carve out” states – listed a Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada, and South Carolina – to get behind a podium, according to a release from the Republican National Committee. But which polls count for the tallies is unknown…

…A staunch Trump Critic, Christie said Thursday that nominating Trump could be a “death sentence” for Republicans. He’s encouraged fellow GOP candidates to go after Trump more on the campaign trail, particularly Nikki Haley.

“The death sentence is let Trump be our nominee. If Trump is our nominee, we will not only lose the presidency again, but we will lose both houses of Congress and we will lose races up and down the ticket,” Christie said in a NewsNation Interview Thursday…

December 6, 2023: Chris Christie pressed Ron DeSantis over former President Trump’s fitness to hold the office of the presidency at Wednesday night’s fourth GOP debate, accusing DeSantis of being afraid to give a clear answer. (The Hill)

DeSantis was asked about whether Trump is “mentally fit” to be president at the event, hosted by The Hill’s sister news organization NewsNation. The Florida governor responded that “Father Time is undefeated” and mentioned Trumps advanced age as a concern.

“The idea that we’re going to put someone up that’s almost 80 and there’s going to be no effects from that, we know that’s not true,” he said. “And so we have an opportunity to do a next generation of leaders.”

DeSantis did not directly say whether Trump is fit but said he believes the country needs someone younger in office. He then shifted to criticize some policies that Trump ran on in 2016 but did not “deliver.”…

December 6, 2023: Chris Christie got into a fiery exchange with Vivek Ramaswamy during Wednesday’s night’s fourth GOP debate, calling out the entrepreneur and fellow White House contender for repeatedly interrupting and blasting him for his attacks against fellow candidate Nikki Haley. (The Hill)

“This is the fourth debate what you would devoted in the first 30 minutes as the most obnoxious blowhard in American. So shut up for a little while,” Christie said during the event, hosted by The Hill’s sister news organization NewsNation.

The former New Jersey governor had offered a summary of Ramaswamy’s stance on the Ukraine-Russia conflict, which Ramaswamy denied was correct.

“It’s exactly what you said. You do this at every debate,” Christie said.

When Ramaswamy interjected, Christie said, “You go out on the stump and you say something, all of us see it on video, we confront you out on the debate stage. You say you didn’t say it, and then you back away.”…

December 7, 2023: GOP presidential Chris Christie said he “had enough” of Vivek Ramaswamy’s “garbage” on the debate stage, where he repeatedly launched attacks at the conservative entrepreneur. (The Hill)

Asked by CNN’s Dana Bash in an interview post-debate about why he defended former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley from Ramaswamy’s insults – including questioning her “basic intelligence” – the former New Jersey governor denounced the attacks as “personal.”

“I’m a truth-teller, Dana. And I – look, Nikki and I disagree. I don’t think Nikki should be president of the United States. But I’ll tell you this: She’s a smart woman,” he said. “And she’s an accomplished woman, and she’s worked incredibly hard in both South Carolina and in the U.N.”

“And I think Vivek does have a woman problem,” he continued. “I do think he insults women’s basic intelligence. He’s done it over and over and over again. And I guess tonight, I just had had enough. I had enough to listen to his garbage.”

Christie was on the offensive throughout the fourth debate, getting into numerous fiery clashes with Ramaswamy. The most intense moment came when he lambasted the entrepreneur for repeatedly interrupting the other candidates…

December 9, 2023: Chris Christie has a message for those calling him to exit the Republican presidential primary to help consolidate the field against front-runner Donald Trump: “I’m not going anywhere.” (CNN)

“If they were up here in New Hampshire and saw the crowds we were getting, the reaction we were getting, they wouldn’t honestly be able to say any of that,” the former New Jersey governor told CNN in an interview Friday.

Christie, who is counting on a strong performance in the first-in-the-nation primary on January 23 to buoy his campaign, has positioned himself as a “truth teller” in the race, drawing a contrast with Trump and often criticizing his onetime ally’s conduct.

But he has struggled to register in the national polls and, a little over a month before voting begins in the GOP primary several top party financiers looking to boost a Trump alternative are throwing their support behind former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley.

Still, Christie remains undaunted.

“I haven’t had one donor, not one of my significant donors or any donor at all, call me and say the we should get out of this race. I haven’t had one supporter call me and tell me to get out of this race,” he said…

December 12, 2023: Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s strong debate performance in Tuscaloosa, Ala., has given him a renewed reason to stay in the GOP presidential primary, even as his prospects for the nomination remain slim. (The Hill)

Christie fiercely criticized former President Trump at the Wednesday debate hosted by NewsNation. He landed attacks on three rivals who appeared on stage and got in the most debate speaking time he has had so far, by CNN’s count.

But Republicans acknowledge the longer Christie stays in the race, the more he could divide the field and help the former president seal the GOP nomination…

…Christie has repeatedly attacked Trump on the campaign trail and throughout the debates, accusing him in the second one of not attending because he was “afraid” to defend his record. He extended that line of attack to on-stage rivals Wednesday, saying they were afraid to criticize Trump.

While he once polled as high as second place in New Hampshire, Christie ranked third at best in the state recently and has stayed near the bottom of the pack in other states nationwide.

Still, Christie appears likely to stay in the race into next year…

December 15, 2023: Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie is selling himself as the “only one” who can defeat former President Trump in the former New Jersey governor’s first campaign ad. (The Hill)

The ad, released Friday, calls out Christie’s fellow GOP presidential candidates for going after each other instead of focusing their criticism on the race’s clear front-runner.

It includes clops of attack ads from former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and Gov. Ron DeSantis (Fla.) targeting each other, while noting that they both significantly trail Trump in the polls.

“There’s only one candidate trying to stop Trump,” the ad’s narrator said. “Chris Christie is the only one who can beat Trump, because he’s the only one trying to beat Trump.”

Christie has sold himself as the choice anti-Trump candidate, consistently criticizing the former president and vowing to defeat him. He underlined that point in the fourth GOP debate last week, throwing digs at Trump but also the other candidates, who said he didn’t care about defeating the former president.

The former governor has focused nearly all of his campaign resources in New Hampshire, with the hope that a strong performance there would lead to support elsewhere.

He is polling third in the Granite State with about 13 percent support, according to The Hill/Decision Desk HQ polling averages. Trump leads the New Hampshire field with about 46 percent support, according to the polling average while Haley places second with about 20 percent support…

January 10, 2024: Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) is ending his 2024 bid for the White House just days before the Iowa caucus, he announced Wednesday, (The Hill)

“It’s clear to me tonight that there isn’t a path for me to win the nomination,” Christie told the audience at a town hall in Windham, N.H.

The surprise move comes after Christie struggled to see gains in polling amid what many view as a scramble for second place between former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley (R) and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R). Former President Trump, meanwhile, has continued to dominate the GOP primary field.

The former New Jersey governor’s decision will be mainly viewed as a boon for Haley, who has seen particular momentum in New Hampshire, where Christie was also pitting a lot of his campaign’s energy.

Christie had launched his campaign in June, going after Trump and pitching himself as an alternative to the former president…

…He has bashed Trump over his ongoing legal battles and warned voters that Trump is “not goal is to outlast” his fellow Republican candidates, trying to run a “spartan” campaign that brought in cash and kept its burn rate low.

In the third fundraising quarter, Christie brought in nearly $3.8 million, trailing fellow GOP candidates, including Haley and DeSantis, and well less than Trump…

…Christie had said in September that he would leave the 2024 race if he didn’t do well in the New Hampshire primary. Back in 2016, he ended his first White House bid just after finishing a disappointing sixth place in the Granite State’s contest.

January 10, 2024: Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was heard on a hot mic predicting that Nikki Haley is “gonna get smoked” in the race against Donald Trump, shortly before Christie bowed out of the contest in a move widely seen as boosting Haley’s campaign. (The Hill)

The hot mic comment from Christie was quickly touted by Trump, the clear GOP frontrunner, as well as Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. Each have battled to blunt Haley’s momentum in the race before the Iowa caucuses on Monday and the New Hampshire primary later this month.

“I mean, look, she spent like $68 million so far, just on TV — spent $68 million so far — $59 million by DeSantis, and we spent $12 [million]. I mean, who’s punching above their weigh and who’s getting a return on their investment, you know? Christie was heard saying in the audio. “And she’s gonna get smoked. And you and I both know it. She’s not up to this.”

It was unclear who Christie was speaking with, but the remarks were heard on a live stream posted by the former New Jersey governor’s campaign shortly before he announced on stage in New Hampshire that he was suspending his presidential bid…

January 10, 2024: Chris Christie urged GOP primary voters to not support former President Donald Trump after the former New Jersey governor dropped out of the race Wednesday. (The Hill)…

…”Donald Trump wants you to be angry every day, because he’s angry,” Christie said during his New Hampshire event. “He wants you to be so angry that you’ll relate to that anger and then voter for hm. Please understand this: I have known him well for 22 years, more than anybody else in this race has known him.”

He continued: “And I can promise you this – if you put him back behind the desk in the Oval Office and the choice comes and a decision is needed to be made as to whether he puts himself first of he puts you first. How much more evidence do you need? He will pick himself.”…

January 16, 2024: Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie ended his bid in January. Once a Trump defender, he’s become one of the former president’s most outspoken critics. Christie has decried Trump’s reluctance to debate and his unwillingness to accept the results of the 2020 election, as well as called the former president a “coward” and “puppet of Putin.” He’s committed not to support Trump even if the former president wins the Republican nomination. (Vox)…

It’s a remarkable 180-degree turn for someone who was previously a close ally of Trump, briefly headed his White House transition team, and helped him prepare for debates in 2020. But his turn didn’t win him much support among the many Republican voters who have rallied behind Trump, even amid his many legal troubles and four indictments.

Christie’s attacks on Trump did seem to spare other GOP candidates from having to go on offense against the former president, who has been known to eviscerate his opponent with mudslinging and name-calling. Christie has been on the receiving end of Trump’s attacks before, when they weakened his bid in the 2016 presidential primary. The former governor finished sixth before ultimately endorsing Trump for the nomination.