Christie Reminds Trump He 'Lost To Joe Biden'

NEW JERSEY — New Jersey’s former Governor Chris Christie hammered back at former President Donald Trump in an “Axios By HBO” segment and an interview on Monday morning with George Stephanopoulos on "Good Morning America."

He also took a swing late Monday morning at some Republicans during an appearance on "The View," when he said they're "playing to their base" about the 2020 Election.

Subscribe to Patch for local news updates to your inbox. (It's free) https://patch.com/subscribe

Christie and Trump continue to volley in comments about one another, with Christie taking aim in interviews, speeches and social media about Trump, while Trump has written about Christie on his website.

On Monday, while Stephanopoulos talked with Christie about his book "Republican Rescue," scheduled for release on Tuesday, the two discussed Christie's friendship with Trump.

It was here Christie said he and Trump haven't talked since December 2020, after Christie called Trump's legal team a "national embarrassment," the day after the 2020 Election, though Christie claimed Trump didn't disagree with him after he called Christie up to ask why he would say something like that. Christie asserted to Stephanopoulos, the day after the election, he attempted to encourage Trump to concede, telling him, "It's over."

When Stephanopoulos asked Christie why he'd continue to work with Trump, the two butting heads over the years on various issues when Christie was an advisor, Christie answered, "You’re never going to agree with everything everybody does in politics," though he said he typically aligned with Trump's policies.

When asked if he thinks Trump will run again for the presidency, Christie said he wasn’t certain but they’d like to “have Trump be a productive part of the party going forward,” saying if the talk continues to return to Election Day 2020 and events following it, “it’s destructive for our party and worse, destructive for our country.”

Christie told Stephanopoulos he's considering a 2024 run himself, however said one doesn't do it a second time for the experience, but because they think they can win. Even with a strong campaign, Christie added that there are “forces beyond your control that just make it not your time,” saying that's potentially what happened to all the other Republican candidates in the early debates with Trump in 2016.

Having overcome COVID, which Christie said during his interview, his condition was much worse than originally publicized, he said he feels it’s important for him to “bring the country forward” either as a candidate or leader for the Republican Party.

He echoed themes with Stephanopoulos that he had in his Axios interview with Mike Allen, as well as when he spoke at the Republican Jewish Coalition Leadership Meeting in Las Vegas on Nov. 7, when Christie told attendees that Republicans “can no longer talk about the past and the past elections."

On his website the day after the leadership meeting, Trump said Christie was “just absolutely massacred by his statements that Republicans have to move on from the past, meaning the 2020 Election Fraud,” by telling the audience the 2020 election was over and they needed to “take our eyes off the rearview mirror and start looking through the windshield again."

“I’ve made the conscious decision, Mike, that I want to spend my time combatting the policies of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris; and trying to help Republicans win governorships and the House and the Senate in 2022,” Christie said during the interview, echoing some of his comments from the Las Vegas event.

“This is not an argument I’ll walk away from,” Christie added.

Allen addressed Trump’s claim that Christie had “less than a 9 percent approval rating - a record low, and they didn't want to hear this from him,” after he exited New Jersey’s gubernatorial seat.

Christie answered that he “refused to get into a back and forth with Donald Trump,” telling Allen during the interview, in 2013 when he ran for re-election in New Jersey, he received 60 percent of the vote.

“When he [Trump] ran for re-election, he lost to Joe Biden,” Christie retorted. “I’m happy to have that comparison stand up because that’s the one that really matters.”

Axios shared the Rutgers-Eagleton Poll results from January 2018 about Christie, which noted that “only 18 percent felt that he is leaving the state in better shape than when he came in,” though the news release about the poll stated only five percent answered in the poll that they would miss Christie, 49 percent were glad to see him go and Rutgers-Eagleton described Christie at his exodus as the “most unpopular New Jersey Governor on record.”

According to the Axios report, Christie “still considers Trump a friend, despite their falling-out over the President’s behavior during the Jan. 6 riot.”

On The View, the hosts asked Christie why certain Republicans, U.S. Representatives Marjorie Taylor Greene, Matt Gaetz, Lauren Boebert and Madison Cawthorn “are still pushing this big lie about a rigged election” in the clip below.

.@GovChristie tells #TheView the members of the GOP still pushing false 2020 election claims are "playing to the base."

"All they care about is keeping their titles. They don't care about trying to make the country a better place." https://t.co/cVclFZQmjA pic.twitter.com/vPjYClSBFE
— The View (@TheView) November 15, 2021

Christie said he addressed “conspiracy theories” in his book, describing those representatives in “very very red, conservative districts and they’re playing to the base.”

“All they care about is keeping their titles,” Christie said during his View appearance. “They don’t care about trying to make the country a better place.”

Watch a clip from the HBO Axios segment with Christie below, read more in Axios here and watch the full Good Morning America interview here.

Questions or comments about this story? Have a news tip? Contact me at: jennifer.miller@patch.com.