Former President Donald Trump mocked former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie Wednesday as news broke revealing Christie’s departure from the Republican primary race.
“I hear Chris Christie is dropping out of the race today — I might even get to like him again!” Trump said, mocking Christie.
Carolyn Kaster/AP
“Anyway, he was just caught on a hot mic making a very truthful statement: ‘She’s gonna get smoked…You and I both know it, she’s not up to this,'” Trump added:
Indeed, Christie formally departed the race Wednesday, joining others — namely, former Vice President Mike Pence and South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott — who left the race before a single ballot was cast. Christie, save former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, was perhaps the most openly anti-Trump candidate, even attacking the former president as a dictator.
“The fact is that when you go and you say the truth about somebody who is a dictator, a bully, who has taken shots at everybody, whether they’ve given them great service or not over time, who dares to disagree with him, then I understand why these three are timid to say anything about it,” Christie said during the NewsNation debate:
Christie says Trump is “a dictator and a bully who has taken shots at everybody.who disagrees with him. I understand why these 3 are timid to say anything about him. He just said this past week he wants to use DOJ to go after his enemies. He is unfit to be president.” pic.twitter.com/3zqb01iX01
— Ron Filipkowski (@RonFilipkowski) December 7, 2023
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Christie, whom Trump has named “Sloppy Chris Christie” on several occasions, did not depart without drama, as he was overheard on a hot mic, predicting that former rival Nikki Haley is going to get “smoked” and describing Gov. Ron DeSantis as “petrified”:
Chris Christie is caught on a hot mic ahead of his expected announcement that he's dropping out of the presidential race:
— The Recount (@therecount) January 10, 2024
He says Nikki Haley is "gonna get smoked" and a "petrified" Ron DeSantis called him. pic.twitter.com/fGOFEtVDHn
A recent poll out of Iowa shows little difference in the state of affairs for the presidential hopefuls without Christie in the race, as Trump still leads his rivals with 54 percent support from likely Iowa caucusgoers. With Christie out, Haley gains two points, moving from 20 percent to 22 percent. Nevertheless, Trump still leads by 32 points in the Hawkeye State.
