Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is firing back at 2024 presidential rival Donald Trump after the former president dismissed him as a “crazed lunatic” during a radio interview on Wednesday.
“I feel bad for Donald. I really do,” Christie sarcastically began. “You know, he’s on there saying that I’m not very smart, that I’m very deranged.”
Then, he gave Newsmax host Eric Bolling some receipts.
“Look, he didn’t think that, Eric, in 2018 when he offered me White House chief of staff,” Christie said. “He didn’t think that in 2016 when he made me chairman of his transition.”
Christie said Trump made him chair of the opioid commission, offered him Cabinet-level jobs as homeland security secretary and labor secretary. He also helped prep Trump for presidential debates in 2016 and 2020.
“If I was so useless and dumb and deranged, how did all that stuff happen?” Christie asked. “It’s sad. He’s under a lot of stress and a lot of pressure, and saying these things makes me really concerned for his mental health.”
Christie and Trump were once close allies, with the former New Jersey governor becoming one of the first prominent Republicans to endorse him in 2016 after ending his own presidential campaign.
He remained close with Trump throughout his presidency, but has since become critical.
“I disagree with the things that Donald Trump did in the 2020 election,” he told Bolling on Wednesday. “I disagree with the way he’s conducted himself after the fact. I think it’s bad for the country. I think it’s beneath the office he held.”
See more of their conversation below:
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