June 8, 2023
Introduction:
(Fox News) Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) joined "Fox & Friends" Thursday to discuss his decision to run for president and explain why he believes the legal troubles faced by former President Trump are "self-inflicted wounds." The former federal prosecutor reacted to Trump potentially facing a second indictment over his mishandling of classified documents.
CHRIS CHRISTIE: The problem with all of this is that it's self-inflicted. In the end, I don't know that the government even knew that Joe Biden had those documents or not. They did know Donald Trump did and in fact asked voluntarily for them for over a year and a quarter and got them back in dribs and drabs. And at least if you believe the accounts that you're reading right now and I and I take them with a grain of salt because I did this work for seven years and I know you can't believe anything until an indictment comes out. But if in fact, you're keeping those things knowingly, even after the government has asked for you to bring them back, the excuses about, ‘oh, they were classified, declassified automatically when I left the office,’ well, that's just wrong.
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I know that as a legal matter. And the problem with this is let's go to pull it back for a second. It's a bigger problem whether he's indicted or not, because these are all self-inflicted wounds. Return the documents and stop doing this. Why do you have to be the center of negative attention all the time? Why do you have to be angry all the time? And that's what Donald Trump has done. So I'll wait to see you make a judgment on the indictment if and when one comes. But certainly, as you know, on the Alvin Bragg stuff I said at the time, that's a ridiculous indictment and one that I would have never brought as a prosecutor but it doesn't mean that the next one of the next one are not going to be problematic. And by the way, that's weight that Donald Trump will have to carry if he's the nominee into a general election in November. And why do we want to take that risk?
View interview here: https://www.foxnews.com/media/chris-ch ... d-wounds
caltrek’s comment: This was from an interview on Fox News, a favorite media outlet for conservatives. With a long campaign season ahead and Christie willing to come out swinging one wonders if Trump’s polling lead for the nomination will hold up. My guess is that it will, that Trump’s followers at this point are so much of a cult that they will just ignore Christie and other primary candidates that say things critical of Trump. Still, comments of this type may very well soften Trump up for the general election. That, along with a continued stream of news concerning indictments and other legal problems. Also, Christie’s argument about “weight that Donald Trump will carry…why do we want to take that risk?” does seem to be having an effect on some Republican voters. So, when it comes time to vote in the primaries, who knows what the decision of Republican voters will be?