Chris Christie ramped up his spat with potential 2024 rival Donald Trump on Thursday by taunting him over his election defeat to Joe Biden...
Chris Christie ramped up his spat with potential 2024 rival Donald Trump on Thursday by taunting him over his election defeat to Joe Biden.
The former two-term New Jersey governor told Axios on HBO that he's not interested in getting 'into a back-and-forth' with Trump - before mocking him for losing reelection to Joe Biden in 2020.
'I'm not gonna get into a back-and-forth with Donald Trump,' Christie said. 'But what I will say is this: When I ran for reelection in 2013, I got 60 percent of the vote.'
'When he ran for reelection, he lost to Joe Biden. I'm happy to have that comparison stand up, because that's the one that really matters.'
Over the weekend Christie spoke at an event for the Republican Jewish Coalition in Las Vegas where he urged his party to move past Trump's 2020 election fraud claims to win in future elections.
Without mentioning the former president by name Christie told his audience of top GOP donors that Republicans' election victory in Virginia and strong showing in New Jersey proved the party could 'take our eyes off the rearview mirror,' even if that meant leaving the de facto leader of the party behind.
On Monday a furious Trump claimed Christie was 'absolutely massacred' for his pleas to move on.
Christie is fueling 2024 rumors by ramping up his public engagements and taking public jabs at Donald Trump
'Chris Christie, who just made a speech at the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) in Las Vegas, was just absolutely massacred by his statements that Republicans have to move on from the past, meaning the 2020 Election Fraud,' Trump said in a statement.
'Everybody remembers that Chris left New Jersey with a less than 9% approval rating—a record low, and they didn’t want to hear this from him!'
But Christie, who in fact left office with a still-dismal 19 percent approval rating, stood by his sentiments on Thursday.
Trump said Christie was 'massacred' over his speech to GOP donors urging Republicans to move on from the ex-president (pictured at a rally in Georgia in September)
'I've made the conscious decision that I want to spend my time combating the policies of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, and trying to help Republicans win governorships and the House and the Senate in 2022,' he said.
'This is not an argument that I'll walk away from.'
The two had been allies after a biting 2016 primary, but Christie soured on Trump after the January 6 Capitol riot.
Christie was among a number of top Republicans who have been floated as 2024 candidates to speak at the weekend event in Nevada - also including former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, former UN Ambassador Nikki Haley, South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and even Trump himself.
The star-studded marquee prompted Graham to quip during his remarks, 'A lot of people have come here to audition.'
Christie first stoked 2024 rumors during an appearance at the Ronald Reagan Library in California in September.
He's also generating buzz with a new book titled 'Republican Rescue,' where he takes aim at 'truth deniers, conspiracy theorists' and even Biden.
But White House ambitions might be a longshot for the once-popular governor, whose performance in the 2016 Republican primary was so dismal he failed to qualify for the main stage at one of the candidate debates.
Christie had an underwhelming run in the 2016 Republican primary, even failing to qualify for the main stage for one of the debates
Christie pictured using a taxpayer-funded beach with family and friends in July 2017 during a government shutdown that closed those beaches to the public
Once a rising GOP star with an 80 percent approval rating, Christie left office as the most unpopular governor in New Jersey history.
Christie had earned praise for his handling of Hurricane Sandy but a number of scandals sent his approval rating plummeting and even led to criminal convictions for two of his top deputies, though they were later overturned by the Supreme Court.
In 2013 one of Christie's aides and the deputy director of the Port Authority conspired to shut down multiple traffic lanes between the town of Fort Lee, New Jersey and New York City in a scandal dubbed 'Bridgegate.'
The public and town officials weren't notified and it caused traffic jams so severe that Fort Lee dubbed it a public safety threat.
The lanes were re-opened days later and subsequent records indicate it was done in retaliation for Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich not endorsing Christie in 2013.
Later in July 2017 Christie was embarrassed by aerial photos showing him and his family enjoying the sun on a public beach nearby one of his residences that had been closed due to the state's government shutdown.
Christie, who was part of the budget stand-off leading to the shutdown, told reporters later that day that he 'didn't get any sun today.'
His unpopularity had reached historic levels by the time he left office at the end of his second term as governor
When he was caught-red handed and forced to defend his position, the brash official responded: 'Run for governor, and you can have a residence there.'
When he left office a Rutgers University survey indicated that a majority of voters were glad to see him go.
Forty-nine percent of respondents selected 'don't let the door hit you on the way out,' while a close 44 percent chose 'some of it was good, some of it was bad, but thanks for your service to the state.'
Just five percent said the were 'going to miss' the outgoing Garden State governor.
But even if he hadn't privately enjoyed a government-funded beach on taxpayers' dime, polls indicate that Trump still has Republican voters' overwhelming support.
A Quinnipiac survey released toward the end of October shows Trump with 78 percent of GOP support for 2024.
Christie failed to gain any noticeable support in a Morning Consult poll released earlier this year scoring potential GOP primary candidates, where both Trump and his Vice President Mike Pence did significantly better.
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