‘He’s a Coward’: Chris Christie Slams Trump as a ‘Puppet of Putin’ After Ukraine Answer During CNN Town Hall

AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File

Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (R) lit into former president and 2024 GOP frontrunner Donald Trump on Thursday, while reacting to Trump’s CNN town hall the night before.

Christie was on the Hugh Hewitt radio show and was asked about the town hall, which quickly became a lightning rod of controversy and was denounced by CNN’s own Oliver Darcy as a “spectacle of lies.”

“What was your reaction to last night’s town hall?” Hewitt asked.

“Well, look. You know, I looked, I listened to it, and there were two reactions that I had. I mean, the first one was that Donald Trump lives in the past and doesn’t really spend a whole lot of time talking about America’s future” Christie began, adding:

And it also struck me that it was almost like déjà vu for me spending eight years in the New York and Philadelphia media markets. You know, if you’re a Republican, you’re going to get knocked around by the media, and that’s the way it goes. And I don’t think we do much winning by complaining about it. You just plow through it and talk about our issues and let people hear about our issues. And I don’t think he did that very well last night.

Hewitt and Christie then spoke at length about how the issue of abortion will factor into 2024 presidential politics and both agreed with Trump that a national abortion ban is bad politics for the GOP.

Hewitt then turned the conversation to Trump’s highly controversial response on Ukraine, in which moderator Kaitlan Collins asked Trump if he wanted to see Ukraine “win” the war. Trump refused to give a straight answer to the question, instead saying, “I want everybody to stop dying.”

“Again, it’s an interview, not a debate. Look, I have a different approach. You know, I just ask questions, Governor, so let me ask some more. He said about Ukraine that it was not prudent to call Putin a war criminal. Do you agree with him?” Hewitt asked.

“No. No, I think he’s a coward, and I think he’s a puppet of Putin. I really do. I think, I don’t know why. To tell you the truth, I can’t figure it out, but there’s no other conclusion to come to,” Christie said, adding:

He wouldn’t say last night that Ukraine should win the war. I mean, I was stunned. It was, to me, it was the most stunning moment of the debate. If you won’t say that you think Ukraine should win the war, I don’t know where you stand with Putin.

And you know, to say that he could settle it in 24 hours is the same kind of bravado that we heard 8 years ago when he said that he would build the wall across the entire border of Mexico and the United States and Mexico would pay for it. And we have a wall that’s about a fifth of what we need after his presidency, and Mexico hasn’t paid their first peso to us, yet.

Christie this week laid out what his 2024 presidential campaign strategy would like look, should he enter the race, and vowed to take Trump on and pull no punches. “The way to win is to beat the guy who’s ahead. And so what would a campaign look like? A campaign would look like a direct frontal challenge to Donald Trump trying to return to the presidency,” Christie told The Dispatch.

Many Republicans still blame Christie for helping Trump to win the 2016 GOP primary, both by knocking out Trump’s other opponents and by quickly endorsing Trump when his own bid failed.

Listen to Hewitt’s full interview with Christie here.