Chris Christie Says Capitol Riot 'Driven From the Top' as Feud With Trump Intensifies
By: Fatma Khaled (Newsweek)
Chris Christie is planning to run for president (again). He is going to represent himself as a Republican who is capable of standing up to Trump's lies by telling the truth.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
NewsChris ChristieNew JerseyDonald TrumpCapitol Riots
Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie on Sunday said that the January 6 Capitol riot was "driven from the top" in an apparent reference to former president Donald Trump and his allies.
"All the things that you see were driven from the top," Christie said during an appearance on ABC's This Week, in response to host George Stephanopoulos' comment about the events that led up to the Capitol riot, including the role of those loyal to Trump in the White House during his presidency.
"It may explain why the former president and his allies are working so hard not to cooperate," said Stephanopoulos.
Christie responded: "The [former] president made it very clear that he did not want to concede the election, that he would not concede the election, and you got a bunch of people around him by the time we got to the end, with very few exceptions, that were C-team players, at best, on their best day."
Those C-team players, Christie said, would tell the former president what he wanted to hear despite people "on the outside" telling him that "this is over and you need to concede."
"He didn't want to hear that. So he went to the C-team players and got that," Christie added.
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The former Republican governor said that the January 6 committee's investigation will eventually reveal the facts relevant to the Capitol attack, but he added, "Let's not kid ourselves. This was a driven-from-the-top process executed by C-team players. And that's why it looks like a Keystone Cops operation, because it was."
Newsweek contacted Trump's office for comments but didn't hear back in time for publishing.
Christie's remarks come amid an intensifying feud with Trump over the former president's claims of a "rigged" 2020 presidential election. Last month Christie challenged those claims during a speech at the Republican Jewish Coalition conference in Nevada.
"We can no longer talk about the past and the past elections—no matter where you stand on that issue, no matter where you stand, it is over," he said.
Trump pushed back against Christie's remarks shortly after in a statement: "Chris Christie, who just made a speech at the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) in Las Vegas, was just absolutely massacred by his statements that Republicans have to move on from the past, meaning the 2020 Election Fraud...Everybody remembers that Chris left New Jersey with a less than 9% approval rating—a record low, and they didn't want to hear this from him!"
Christie responded to Trump's attacks in an interview with Axios where he said: "I'm not gonna get into a back-and-forth with Donald Trump. But what I will say is this: When I ran for re-election in 2013, I got 60% of the vote. When he ran for re-election, he lost to Joe Biden."
The former governor supported Trump and his policies and said that he voted for him in the 2016 and 2020 elections. He's remained coy about whether he'll run for president in 2024.
Chris Christie said Sunday the Capitol riot was driven "from the top." Above, Trump speaks as former New Jersey Governor Christie looks on at a panel discussion in the White House on March 29, 2017.Photo by Shawn Thew-Pool/Getty Images
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The back and forth between Trump and Christie should be very entertaining.
I'm buying more popcorn.
What I've been saying all along - trumpturd and his allies planned all this.
The battle of super wide asses.
24/7 room service at the white house is quite the perk...
Don't forget the alert button for more Diet Coke.
like the majority of americans, I wish I could...
Look mostly at the ones who voted to overturn the election.
Christie cant touch Trump. He's just waiting for something bad to happen to Trump and Christie will try to pick up the pieces.
If Trump doesnt self implode he will crush Christie like a bug just like he did last time.
that's a bug I wouldn't want hitting my windshield...
If Trump doesnt self implode he will crush Christie like a bug just like he did last time.
Either of those possibilities will produce the most disgusting tsunami in history.
Christie is the typical slimy politician. A redeeming quality is that he is an R who does not pretend that Trump's Big Lie has any factual basis. But he is not someone I would support for PotUS. The GOP must do better than this.
But for now, I am rooting for Christie to keep countering the brain-dead-stupid and factually devoid lie that the 2020 election was rigged and that Trump is the legitimate PotUS.
I just want to watch Trump and Christie fling poop at each other.
I would like to see more GOP members speaking of the utter absurdity of Trump's Big Lie.
we've already seen who has any integrity left on that side of the aisle.
"we've already seen who has any integrity left on that side of the aisle."
Next to nil
IMO, there will be a rising trend for those on the right to distance themselves from trump as his legal problems get closer to justice. when that reverse polarization occurs, it will turn into a who was first and with how much gusto contest.
One can only hope, but given so many GOP members continue (more than a year later) to support the Trump in spite of his Big Lie, I am not so confident unless Trump is found guilty of a crime that would preclude the possibility of his running for PotUS. Even then, his sycophants will make him a martyr. I would fully expect at least one here on NT to do just that.
I expect MANY White-wing knuckle draggers here on NT will call Trump a martyr.
If Christie's book sales numbers are anything to go by he'll be either lining up at a foodbank or hanging around a restaurant dumpster.
it better be a buffet restaurant...
... with an extra-large swill and spew bathroom.
Sure it was a Keystone Cops operation...where people got seriously hurt.