It has come to light that the former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie left the Faith & Freedom Coalition’s Road to Majority conference Friday by telling reporters an anecdote about Donald Trump he said proved the former president was either “a liar or an idiot.”
“We can’t pretend that Donald Trump is a man of character,” Christie said on his way out the door:
This is a guy who paid off a porn star. This is a guy who’s regularly lied. This is a guy who’s abused people who’ve worked for him. I mean, I consider myself — now that he’s gone off on me — I’m happy to be with Rex Tillerson; and with Jim Mattis; and with John Kelly; and with Mark Esper; and with Bill Barr, who he called a gutless pig. I mean, this is not character.
And, what I was trying to make sure I was emphasizing to those folks in there is, if we are people of faith…one of the cornerstones of faith is character. And it is an absolute lack of character — this guy offered me White House chief of staff and then was on a podcast yesterday saying he never trusted me. What does that make him, a liar or an idiot? It’s one or the other. Because if you offered me chief of staff and you never trusted me, then you’re an idiot. And if you did trust me enough to offer me chief of staff, then you’re a liar. Either way, I don’t think that’s the kind of person we want behind the desk in the Oval Office.
And I came here to this organization today because I respect them. I respect every one of the people in that room who are there because they care about the country and want to elect the best person they can. But I’m not going to come here, like other candidates will, and pander to them. I’m going to say what I think — I knew there were a lot of Trump fans out there, and I knew I was likely to get booed. But you know what? I guarantee you one thing: I made every person in that room think today.”
