Apr 27, 2020 - Politics & Policy
Chris Christie on Trump briefings: "Two hours of anybody every day" won't help politically
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) told ABC's "Good Morning America" on Monday that President Trump's frequent and lengthy coronavirus briefings are unlikely to help him politically.
What he's saying: "I think an hour and a half or two hours of anybody every day is not going to be great for their political standing, no matter who they are and what they do."
- "The American people are shut in for the most part, and they don't need to see the same person every day for two hours. So I think the president could scale that back, still be a presence, communicating important things, but not having to be on for an hour-and-a-half to two hours," Christie added.
- Christie suggested that Trump should "appear at some of these briefings off the top ... take a question or two from the press, and then leave the rest of it to the vice president and the people who are the relevant experts that day."
The big picture: Axios' Jonathan Swan reported last week that the White House planned to scale back the briefings, as staff believe the president is overexposed and hurting his polling ahead of the 2020 presidential election.
- Trump made only a brief appearance at Friday's briefing and did not hold one over the weekend.
- He tweeted on Saturday that they are "not worth the time & effort!"