Christie says he'll vow to back GOP nominee to get on debate stage - but won't ... trends now
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie vowed to get on the debate stage to face off with Donald Trump – even if he has to sign a 'loyalty' pledge the Republican National Committee is demanding of participants.
'I’ll be on the debate stage and I will take the pledge that the RNC puts in front of me just as seriously as Donald Trump did eight years ago,' Christie said Wednesday, hours after mounting blistering attacks on the former president at a town hall in Manchester, where he announced his campaign.
'I will do whatever I have to do, George, to be on that stage,' Christie told interviewer George Stephanopoulos, who had noted his past statements never to back Trump, the leading GOP contender for president.
Christie referenced Trump's own decision in 2016 to pledge to back the nominee and not run an independent challenge, only to walk it back during a live CNN debate.
'I’m going to do exactly what the RNC has set us up to do,' Christie said. 'I’m going to do whatever I need to do to save my party and save my country,' he added, when pressed in an appearance on Good Morning America.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie tore into Donald Trump in remarks in New Hampshire Tuesday
The RNC is headed by Trump loyalist Ronna McDaniel. Christie also must meet other criteria: amassing 40,000 donors nationwide and being at 1 per cent in the polls, something he said he would achieve.
Christie made the comments in his first TV interview after his brash announcement. He spoke from the stadium of the city's minor league Fisher Cats stadium, after appearing for years on ABC's 'This Week' with Stephanopoulos.
'I’m going to miss you on the roundtable,' the former Bill Clinton advisor told him. But his former colleague noted Christie was far behind in the polls and pressed him on how he would prevail.
Christie revisited some of his attacks on Trump from hours earlier, when he attacked his former ally for 'broken promises like that, George, aren’t acceptable to the American people.
Christie said he would take the pledge 'as seriously' as Trump did in 2016
These included building a border wall, repealing and replacing Obamacare, and balancing the budget.
Christie told Axios in March he could never support Trump again. 'I can't help him. No way,' he said.
At an early Fox News debate in 2015, Trump was the only candidate to raise his hand saying he would refuse to commit to backing the eventual nominee and refusing to run as an independent.
In September 15 he signed a pledge, but backed away from it in in March 2016 amid his angry clash with Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.
'No, I don’t anymore,' he said at a CNN town hall.
Christie began his return to the national political stage with an opening message: 'Go big' – then flashed his ability to go for the jugular.
He denied running for president as a spoiler but said he did want to take down Donald Trump – who he hit for 'coddling' Vladimir Putin, running 'failed casinos' and 'reprehensible' bartering of Ukrainian aide that was the subject of Trump's second impeachment.
He said Americans knew Trump was 'full of it' when he said Mexico would pay for the border wall, then vowed not to make the mistake of letting Trump's claims go unchecked.
Christie, who filed paperwork to run for president Tuesday, railed against the 'disrespect, the narcissism and the lying for four years' of the Trump era. 'The people in the middle said enough,' he said, pointing to the 2020 results.
He promised to take on Trump's four-year record, and needled fellow Republicans for being unwilling to even say his name, like 'Voldemort' in the Harry Potter series.
Christie took on Trump for 'lying' about issues from the budget deficit to saying he wouldn't play golf while president. He even went after Trump's family.
'The grift form this family is breathtaking,' Christie told a crowd at a town hall in Manchester. 'Jared Kushner and Ivanka Kushner walk out of the White House and months later get $2 billion from the Saudis. You think it’s because he’s some kind of investing genius?' he said, pointing to the deal Trump's son-in-law inked with the Saudi investment fund months after Trump left office. 'That’s your money he stole, and gave it to his family. You know that what makes us? A banana republic,' he said.
Christie once prosecuted Kushner's father,
