Chris Christie Blasts Trump For Inciting Jan. 6 ‘In an Effort to Intimidate Mike Pence and the Congress’ Into Overturning Election Results
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) commended on Sunday former Vice President Mike Pence for unapologetically defending certifying the election on Jan. 6, while sharply criticizing former President Donald Trump for attempting to “intimidate” Pence into rejecting the results.
“I heard this week that President Trump said I had the right to overturn the election,” Pence said on Friday. “But President Trump is wrong. I had no right to overturn the election. The presidency belongs the American people, and the American people alone.”
Christie said he was unsure “why it took him so long” to counter Trump but is “glad he’s finally put words to it.”
He noted that while Pence has not been a vocal critic of Trump post-Jan. 6, “the actions that the vice president took [in certifying the election] on January 6th spoke loudly.”
“January 6th was a riot that was incited by Donald Trump in an effort to intimidate Mike Pence and the Congress into doing exactly what he said in his own words last week: overturn the election,” Christie said, referring to a statement in which the former president claimed Pence had the authority to “change the outcome.”
“Actually, what they are saying, is that Mike Pence did have the right to change the outcome, and they now want to take that right away. Unfortunately, he didn’t exercise that power, he could have overturned the Election!” Trump wrote.
Christie noted that Trump has since tried to downplay his remarks, and “do a clean-up on Aisle One.”
“But it’s not going to change,” Christie said. “He actually told the truth by accident, he wanted the election to be overturned.”
Trump hit back after Pence’s comments, arguing that he himself was right and “if there is fraud or large scale irregularities, it would have been appropriate to send those votes back to the legislatures to figure it out.”
Christie on Sunday called Trump’s response “kind of akin to the kid standing in the corner holding his breath.”
“It’s immature and it’s beneath the office that he held,” he added.
Watch above, via ABC
