Report: Trump team may let Christie lead debate prep

Donald Trump’s campaign may let New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) lead the Republican nominee’s preparations for his second presidential debate with Hillary Clinton, according to a Thursday report.

Trump’s team is split over how best it can improve the real estate mogul’s performance after Monday’s showing, CNN reported, and Christie is one of “the few” Trump confidants who is always “brutally honest” with him.

{mosads}Trump’s campaign also reportedly admired Christie’s debating in the GOP presidential primaries.

Christie, however, denied on Thursday that he might take charge of Trump’s preparation for the next debate, set for Oct. 9.

“I have not been asked to do anything new, and as far as I know there is no new debate prep,” he said.

Kellyanne Conway, Trump’s campaign manager, also rejected the rumored strategy change.

“[Christie] is not currently under consideration,” she said.

Campaign CEO Steve Bannon was technically in charge of preparations for the first round, CNN said, but Trump called the shots in practice.

Clinton, the Democratic presidential nominee, was widely seen as the victor in their Hofstra University debate, but Trump held a conference call with surrogates Wednesday, during which he called for the stifling of criticism of his performance.

One talking point provided to supporters was: “What the American people saw in the debate was an agent of change versus the status quo.”

The pair next meets a week from Sunday at Washington University in St. Louis, and then Oct. 19 at the University of Nevada in Las Vegas.

Clinton leads Trump by 3 points nationally in the latest RealClearPolitics average of polls.