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Aug 27, 2023 - Politics & Policy

Christie: Fellow GOP candidates' Trump support "most amazing part" of debate

Shauneen Miranda

Ex-New Jersey Governor Chris Christie expressed surprise Sunday over some of his fellow Republican candidates advocating for former President Trump as the party's nominee — even if he's convicted of crimes.

Driving the news: "The most amazing part of the debate to me, was the idea that, you know, the majority of my competitors believe that you can have a convicted felon as our nominee for president and that they support that and that he could win," Christie said during an interview on ABC's "This Week."

  • Christie and ex-Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson were the lone candidates on stage who did not raise their hands to signal support for Trump when asked by Fox News anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum, the debate moderators.
  • Christie and Hutchinson are among some of the most vocal opponents of Trump, and both have argued that he isn't fit to run for president given his legal troubles.

What they're saying: "The truth is that, you know, [the GOP] can't have a convicted felon as our nominee for president and expect we're going to win," Christie told ABC News' Martha Raddatz.

  • "And I think what it'll mean for folks across the country is four more years of Joe Biden, and for Republican primary voters, they have to think about what that'll mean — potentially a packed Supreme Court, potentially the elimination of the filibuster and a lot more," Christie said.
  • In a separate interview on CBS' "Face the Nation," Christie also said Trump's claim of a stolen election was "the greatest threat to our country and the greatest threat to our democracy."

Of note: Despite facing 91 federal and state charges in four separate indictments, he remains the GOP frontrunner and dominates the polls.

  • Trump spent 20 minutes inside Georgia's Fulton County jail on Thursday being booked on charges there and is the first former president to have a mugshot.
  • "Whether or not you believe that the criminal charges are right or wrong, the conduct is beneath the office of president of the United States," Christie said during the debate Wednesday.
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