Christie campaign pushes back on quiet car report

Chris Christie’s (R) presidential campaign is pushing back on a Gawker report that said the New Jersey governor was asked to leave an Amtrak Quiet Car on his way to New York from Washington on Sunday morning because he was yelling.

{mosads}Christie got on the train “yelling at his two Secret Service agents I think because of a seat mixup,” Alexander Mann, a passenger on the train, told Gawker.

The governor sat down and immediately started making phone calls, according to Mann. Christie appeared to be having a heated phone conversation, repeating “this is fricken’ ridiculous” and “seriously?! seriously?!”

After about 10 minutes, a train conductor reportedly asked the governor to stop yelling or move to another car.

“He got up and walked out again yelling at his Secret Service,” Mann told Gawker.

A representative for Christie, however, told The Hill that the governor was not yelling and was not kicked off the quiet car.

“On a very full train this morning, the Governor accidentally took a seat in Amtrak’s notorious quiet car,” Samantha Smith said in a statement. “After breaking the cardinal rule of the quiet car, the Governor promptly left once he realized the serious nature of his mistake and enjoyed the rest of his time on the train from the cafe car. Sincere apologies to all the patrons of the quiet car that were offended.”

Smith also pointed to tweets from an Amtrak passenger who said the Gawker story “isn’t close to accurate.”

About the @Gawker fail: @ChrisChristie was super courteous & possibly the least intrusive in-public phone person ever.

— Katie Klabusich (@Katie_Speak) October 25, 2015

This report was updated at 4:35 p.m.