Nicolle Wallace asks Chris Christie if he’s trying to ‘clean the Trump stink off’ ahead of 2024

MSNBC host Nicolle Wallace pressed former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) about his support of President Trump as he explores the possibility of running for president himself in 2024. 

“I don’t remember you coming out and forcefully pushing back against Donald Trump’s comments on the ‘Access Hollywood’ tape. You didn’t defend him, but you didn’t withdraw your support,” Wallace asked Christie on Tuesday. “I didn’t hear you, after he called African nations ‘bleep-hole nations.’ I didn’t hear you distance yourself from this president at any point until the target for his ire and lawlessness was the democracy you haven’t ruled out leading in four years. Are you simply making a political calculation that you can clean the Trump stink off you faster than Marco Rubio or some of the other competitors?”

Christie, who ran for president in 2015 before ending his campaign and throwing his support behind Trump, replied: “No.” 

“Not at all Nicolle, and in fact, at the end of it, I made a decision back in 2016 that the choice between Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton was one where I was with Donald Trump. I don’t regret that choice, I still don’t regret it today. I wouldn’t vote for Hillary Clinton today, if that choice were to be made,” he said. “So that’s not what I’m saying. But what I am saying is that, you know, I evaluate these things one at a time. You picked places of things where I haven’t spoken out. And there have been any number of things where I have spoken out.” 

Christie said he was critical of the way Trump has spoken about current and former law enforcement officials such as former Attorney General Jeff Sessions, whom he called “horribly flawed,” and current FBI Director Christopher Wray. 

During an interview with radio host Hugh Hewitt this week, Christie said he has not ruled out a run for president in 2024 and explained his role in helping Trump prepare for debates this fall against President-elect Joe Biden. 

“The last bit of advice, you know, I was in the Oval Office with him, and he’s getting ready to leave for the debate. And he said to me, you get one last shot,” Christie said. “And I said let Joe Biden talk. If you let him talk, he will hurt himself. And he gave me a thumbs-up, and he walked out of the Oval Office. And he interrupted him 71 times in 90 minutes. So no, he didn’t, that was not the debate I advised him to have.”