Christie says he could see Trump's Mar-a-Lago case go to trial by this winter
Chris Christie said that he could see the trial of former President Donald Trump in the Mar-a-Lago documents case go to trial before the 2024 election.
“I think it could go to trial this winter,” he said Monday night.
Christie, who is the former governor of New Jersey and a former prosecutor, said there is a “rocket docket” in the Florida district where the case is being tried.
“They're a district, the Southern District of Florida, that cares about the Speedy Trial Act, which says 70 days from the day of your initial appearance, which is tomorrow. They won't do that because it's too complex a case. But could I see this case going to trial in six to eight months from tomorrow? I could," Christie said.
Trump is expected in court in Miami on Tuesday for an arraignment. Special counsel Jack Smith has also said he wanted a speedy trial while protecting the former president's rights.
Christie says other GOP candidates aren't addressing Trump's indictment because "they're playing games"
Chris Christie said Monday night that other Republican presidential candidates aren't commenting on what's in Trump's indictment because "it's indefensible – they're playing games."
"They're playing political games with you," Christie said to the audience at a CNN town hall, adding that he believes other candidates are hoping Trump will "implode" and they'll be able to capitalize.
Voters should instead decide which candidate is "the most honest, forthright leader" and "put that person behind the desk" as president, the former New Jersey governor said.
If elected, Christie vowed not to interfere with the work of the attorney general, saying that he would tell whoever he appointed:
"Go do your job, and unless you need me for something, leave me alone. Just go and do your job without fear or favor or partisanship. And that's what we need as an attorney general."
"This is vanity run amok," Christie says of Trump's actions as outlined in the special counsel's indictment
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie outlined on Monday what he said were the three most egregious actions by former President Donald Trump as outlined in the federal indictment.
Asked by CNN's Anderson Cooper which of the 37 charges he finds most egregious, Christie responded, "Can I get the three most?"
The former New Jersey governor went on to explain the charges that stuck out to him, including:
"This is vanity run amok, Anderson, run amok. Ego run amok. And he is now going to put this country through this when we didn't have to go through it. Everyone's blaming the prosecutors. He did it. His conduct," he said of the former president.
Christie says he agrees with former Attorney General Barr calling Trump's federal indictment "very damning"
As news of former President Donald Trump's indictment in Florida made headlines over the weekend, former Attorney General Bill Barr called the 37 criminal charges Trump is facing in the indictment as "very damning."
“It is a very tight, very evidence-laden indictment. The conduct in there is awful,” Christie said when asked about the comments in tonight's CNN town hall. “I think the former attorney general is absolutely right."
More on the indictment: Special counsel Jack Smith returned an historic indictment against Trump that was unsealed Friday, the first time that a former president has been charged with crimes in federal court.
Trump faces a total of 37 counts, including 31 counts of willful retention of national defense information. His aide, Walt Nauta, faces six counts, including several obstruction and concealment-related charges stemming from the alleged conduct.
The 49-page indictment included new details about how Trump allegedly took classified documents to Mar-a-Lago after leaving office in 2021 and resisted the government’s attempts to retrieve the classified materials.
Trump is expected to appear in a federal courthouse in Miami on Tuesday to be arraigned.
Read key takeaways from the indictment here.
Christie says Trump "doesn't give a damn about the American people" and another term would be worse
Chris Christie told voters that he believes another Donald Trump presidency would be worse than his first term in office because Trump doesn't care about the American people.
Speaking at a CNN town hall Monday, Christie said Trump has shown “to be completely self-centered, completely self-consumed and doesn’t give a damn about the American people, in my view," especially after he left office.
Presidents should be thinking about what to do for Americans, Christie said, “not what scores you need to settle for yourself."
"I am convinced if he goes back to the White House, that the next four years will be all about him setting scores, Anderson, with everybody who he thinks wasn’t perfectly nice to him," the former New Jersey governor said.
Chris Christie says his wife convinced him to run for president again
CNN's Anderson Cooper opened tonight's town hall with GOP presidential candidate Chris Christie by asking him why he wanted to run for president again — and how he made the case to his family. Christie said that it was "the opposite" with his wife, Mary Pat Christie, who made the case to him to run.
"It was kind of the opposite. It was really Mary Pat making the case to me, why she thought that it was necessary to do it," the former New Jersey governor said.
Christie said that his wife told him that he has "a unique set of skills that need to be in this race" and that she told him he needed "to do this."
"And she was making the argument. So, Anderson, when your wife is making the argument and you're the candidate, go. Just go. Don't ask questions, just go," Christie said.
More on Christie's career: Christie is making his second bid for the White House, following an unsuccessful attempt in 2016. He ended up backing former President Donald Trump that year and again four years later, when he also helped the then-president with debate preparation. Christie turned on his onetime ally after Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election results and has since established himself as one of the former president’s chief GOP critics.
CNN's Gregory Krieg and Shania Shelton contributed reporting to this post.
CNN's town hall with Chris Christie has started
From CNN staff
CNN's town hall with former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie in New York is happening now — less than a week after he officially launched his 2024 presidential campaign.
Christie is answering questions from CNN's Anderson Cooper and a live audience comprised of Republican voters.
Christie is making his second bid for the White House, following an unsuccessful attempt in 2016. He ended up backing Trump that year and again four years later, when he also helped the then-president with debate preparation.
But Christie turned on his onetime ally after Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election results and has since established himself as one of the former president’s chief GOP critics.
Christie kicked off his presidential campaign last week with a lacerating indictment of Trump, calling him a “lonely, self-consumed mirror hog” who, by force of personality alone, represents a threat to the republic.
Christie is seeking to appeal to more establishment-friendly Republican conservatives and believes he is best positioned to take on Trump in the primary while also appealing to independent voters.
Where you can watch: The town hall is streaming live, without requiring a cable login, on the CNN.com homepage and across mobile devices via CNN’s apps for iOS and Android, and CNN OTT and mobile apps or live TV.
The town hall will also be available on demand beginning Tuesday to pay TV subscribers via CNN.com, CNN OTT apps and cable operator platforms.
Here's what to watch for during tonight's town hall
From CNN's Gregory Krieg
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie barged into the Republican presidential primary last week with a scathing rebuke of front-runner and former President Donald Trump.
Now, less than a week after formally entering the race and on the eve of Trump’s court appearance in South Florida on an indictment over his alleged mishandling of classified documents, Christie, at a CNN town hall Monday night, will have another opportunity in front of a national audience to make the political case against Trump – and for himself.
In New Hampshire last week, Christie said he did not view those two efforts to be in conflict. Instead, he argued, they should be viewed as natural complements.
“The reason I’m going after Trump is twofold,” Christie explained to a friendly crowd. “One, he deserves it. And two, it’s the way to win.”
Christie also used that forum to jab his primary rivals over their reluctance to directly engage with the former president, pointing to an event hosted by Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst days before in Des Moines.
“Not one of (the primary candidates there) mentioned his name. They would say cute little things like ‘new generational leadership’ or ‘we need a leader who looks forward, not backwards,’” Christie said, mocking the catchphrases used by other Republican candidates determined to go around, not through, Trump on the campaign trail.
All told, it was a dramatic first step onto the campaign stage. The question now: Where does he go from there?
Here are four things to watch during Christie's town hall:
Read more here.
Key things to know about Chris Christie's political career — and tumultuous relationship with Trump
From CNN's Gregory Krieg and Shania Shelton
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's first flirtation with presidential politics began in 2011, when he considered running in a primary to take on then-President Barack Obama a year later. He demurred, then saw his standing with Republicans sag ahead of 2016. His 2016 campaign was short-lived and most memorable for Christie’s mocking evisceration of Florida Sen. Marco Rubio in a February debate.
Both would eventually drop out – Christie after he finished sixth in the New Hampshire primary – and endorse former President Donald Trump. But Christie went a step further.
He helmed Trump’s transition team – though his work was eventually trashed, and Christie himself sidelined days after the election – and later on became a close adviser to the former president. He was floated as a potential appointment to a number of administration jobs, though none ever materialized. He even participated in mock debates with Trump in 2020. (Christie has said he believes he contracted Covid-19 from Trump, who did not disclose a positive test result, during one of those sessions.)
Following Trump’s defeat and subsequent attempt to overturn the 2020 election, Christie turned on him and sought to establish himself as one of Trump’s chief Republican critics.
“We keep losing and losing and losing,” Christie said at the Republican Jewish Coalition’s annual leadership conference late last year. “The reason we’re losing is because Donald Trump has put himself before everybody else.”
He also has said that Trump “incited” the January 6, 2021, insurrection at the US Capitol “in an effort to intimidate Mike Pence and the Congress into doing exactly what he said in his own words last week: overturn the election.”
In an interview with Axios this year, he vowed never to support Trump again. “I can’t help him,” Christie said. “No way.”
Asked by an audience member last Tuesday at a town hall whether he had a plan to win over “Trump voters,” Christie disputed the characterization – and insisted that Republicans should not view people who had previously voted for Trump as an impenetrable group.
His time as governor: Christie was first elected New Jersey governor in 2009, unseating Democratic incumbent Jon Corzine. He easily won reelection in the blue state in 2013. He served as US attorney for New Jersey from 2002 to 2008, a period in which he successfully prosecuted the father of Trump’s son-in-law and former aide Jared Kushner on criminal tax evasion and witness tampering charges.
Christie himself was engulfed in the “Bridgegate” scandal during his second term as governor. Emails and texts from top aides showed that the George Washington Bridge lane closures in September 2013, which caused massive traffic jams, stemmed from a political vendetta after the town’s Democratic mayor declined to endorse Christie’s gubernatorial reelection.
A federal investigation determined that Christie had no knowledge of the decision to close the lanes, but the scandal continued to follow the former governor.
