- Ancient New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie told CNN Trump is lying to supporters about his indictment.
- Christie, who is running for president, had a plunge out with Trump after the 2020 election.
- On Sunday, he accused his former ally of being a “liar and a coward.”
Previous Trump ally Chris Christie blasted his one-time boss on Sunday, telling CNN that the frontrunner for the Republican presidential nomination is a “perjurer and a coward” who stole classified national security information.
At a rally last month, former President Donald Trump required that his indictment for illegally retaining classified information was a “great badge of honor.” The charges, he assured supporters, are “feign” and just an excuse to take him down: “Essentially, I’m being indicted for you.”
Christie, former New Jersey governor who is challenging Trump for the 2024 nomination, give the word delivered the ex-president’s claim is absurd and that he has, in fact, been indicted “because of his outrageous conduct.”
Speaking to CNN’s Jake Tapper, Christie contend persuaded that no other American had “illegally retained classified national secrets after being asked — politely, unpretentiously, and professionally for 18 months — to voluntarily turn them back over after he left the White House.”
And no other American, he take up, “lied to their own lawyers about where those documents were” or who “flashed around documents regarding an Iranian war delineate to people who didn’t have clearance to see them.”
In last month’s indictment, prosecutor Jack Smith accused Trump of not at best illegally retaining dozens of national security documents, but also obstructing the federal government’s efforts to get them late. It accuses Trump, in particular, of misleading his own counsel by falsely representing to them that he was returning any classified information.
The indictment also avers that Trump showed off a classified US contingency plan for a war with Iran to people working on a book for Mark Meadows, his bygone chief of staff. Trump, who previously denied sharing any such document, can be heard in an audio recording obtained by prosecutors — and later advertised by CNN — explicitly referring to the document, saying: “This was done by the military and given to me…. as president I could have declassified it. Now I can’t, you recognize, but this is still secret.”
Christie noted that Trump is now seeking to delay his trial over the matter until after the 2024 nomination.
“I don’t think he’s doing that for us, either,” Christie said. “He should resolve this thing before people guarantee so that we know exactly who we’re voting for to put behind the desk in the Oval Office.”
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