Trump Accidentally Admitted Role On Jan. 6: Chris Christie

MENDHAM, NJ — Former New Jersey Governor and Mendham resident Chris Christie said former President Donald Trump “told the truth by accident,” and actually planned to overturn the 2020 election during the Jan. 6 Capitol riots.

In an interview with ABC News on Sunday, Christie said Trump incited the riot on Jan. 6, 2021 in an effort "to intimidate [former Vice President] Mike Pence and the Congress into doing exactly what he said in his own words last week, ‘overturn the election.’”

Christie’s remarks were made on the heels of comments made by Trump, who claimed that Pence could have overturned the 2020 election.

Trump and Christie have sparred with one another on the 2020 election topic in interviews and comments since November 2020.

Christie also taunted Trump in one interview, stating he lost the election to President Joe Biden. In another, Christie said it was "undeniable" he caught coronavirus from Trump.

Pence rejected Trump’s remarks to the conservative Federalist Society on Friday.

“President Trump is wrong,” Pence said. “The presidency belongs to the American people and the American people alone.”

Pence's full remarks are in the video below:

In a statement on his website Friday, Trump compared Pence to an “automatic conveyor belt for the Old Crow Mitch McConnell to get [Joe] Biden elected President as quickly as possible.”

“Well, the Vice President’s position is not an automatic conveyor if obvious signs of voter fraud or irregularities exist,” Trump continued. “That’s why the Democrats and RINOs are working feverishly together to change the very law that Mike Pence and his unwitting advisors used on January 6 to say he had no choice.”

Trump said if voter fraud existed, it would have been appropriate for Pence to send “votes back to the legislatures to figure it out.”

“Trump has tried to do ‘a cleanup on aisle one here,’ but he actually told the truth by accident,” Christie added about Trump's statements. “He wanted the election to be overturned.”

Christie compared Trump to "a kid standing in the corner holding his breath,” calling his statements “immature and beneath the office that he [Trump] held.”

Click here to listen to Christie’s full remarks about Trump to ABC News.

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