Christie calls Trump ‘a one-man crime wave’

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) jabbed former President Trump this week amid speculation he could face a third indictment, calling Trump a “one-man crime wave.”

“Usually, folks like this commit discrete crimes and wind up having one trial. This guy has been a one-man crime wave,” Christie, a GOP presidential rival to Trump, said on “Pod Save America” Thursday.

Trump currently faces charges in two separate cases: one indictment on state charges in New York relating to falsifying business documents in a hush money case, and another federal case led by special counsel Jack Smith regarding mishandling of classified documents.

The potential third indictment also stems from Smith’s investigatory team and focuses on Trump’s actions after the 2020 election, including attempts to overturn the election result and the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

Smith met with Trump lawyers Thursday and sent Trump a letter earlier this month notifying him he was the target of the Jan. 6 probe.

“He’s earned every one of them. If you look at it, every one of these is self-inflicted,” Christie said Thursday during the podcast interview.

“And that’s why, do I think that prosecutors exercise prosecutorial judgment in discretion in some respects that are questionable? Yeah — and they always have. But what I say to people all the time is whether you agree or disagree with the prosecutors, look at the underlying conduct.”

Christie, a former federal prosecutor, said he doesn’t agree with the New York state charges over a payment Trump’s then-lawyer made in 2016 to prevent an adult film star from going public with allegations of a past affair with Trump, which he has long denied.

“[D]o we want someone as president who is willing to pay off a porn star who he had an affair with, two months before a national election, to hide it from the people who he’s asking for their vote for president of the United States? I think that’s probably conduct that we should be frowning upon,” Christie said.

Christie has been the most notable Trump critic in the crowded GOP primary field. He has often traded barbs with the former president over Trump’s unwillingness to debate, criminal investigations, his age and even each other’s weight.

The former governor is receiving about 3 percent support in recent national polling averages, placing seventh in the primary field, far behind Trump at about 52 percent support.