Christie calls Trump a ‘con artist’ amid legal battles: He’s ‘grifting off these people’

Republican presidential candidate and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie took another swipe at former President Trump on Friday, claiming he’s a “con artist” amid his legal woes.

The Trump campaign’s financial disclosures for the first quarter revealed that just over half of the money he raised for his 2024 bid has been used to pay legal fees, the Washington Post reported. Christie called the move “ridiculous,” and claimed the former president’s supporters were likely left in the dark.

“You really need to have people who are donating $10, $20, $50 to your campaign, pay for your high priced lawyers for indictments that you’ve all put on yourself by paying off a porn star by holding back classified documents, despite the fact that they’ve been asked for voluntarily for 18 months?” Christie said in an interview on CNN. “I mean, this is ridiculous. And he is using these people in a way that I don’t think that they completely know about.”

“People are giving to him and because they think it’s going to help him get reelected president when all he’s doing is grifting off these people,” he continued. “He is a con artist, who is conning them out of their money, pretending he wants to be their president. Well, what he wants is a free ride for the legal defense he’s getting for the criminal charges he personally faces.”

The remarks from Christie, who unsuccessfully ran against Trump in the 2016 presidential election, are just another example of the growing feud between the two candidates — who were once seen as allies. He made it clear on Tuesday that even if offered the vice presidency under Trump, he would not accept it.

“I spoke to Mike Pence, the job doesn’t sound like it was too great,” Christie told Newsmax.

The former New Jersey governor has also slammed the former president for his ego, arguing it’s what kept him from admitting he lost 2020 to President Biden.

Trump’s list of legal battles grew this week after he announced on Tuesday morning that his legal team was alerted that he is the target of a Justice Department investigation into the Jan. 6, 2021, riot on the Capitol and his efforts to stay in power after losing the election.

He also faces two other indictments: one for falsifying business records related to a hush money payment he made to an adult film star and his handling of classified documents after he left the White House. He has pleaded not guilty to more than 70 counts.

Christie last week pushed back on Trump’s claims that the classified documents indictment was politically motivated, calling him “a liar and a coward.”

“He’s not getting indicted for anyone other than because of his own conduct,” he said Sunday in an interview with CNN’s Jake Tapper.