Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie slammed his 2024 GOP rivals Gov. Ron DeSantis (R-FL) and former President Donald Trump over their responses to the Jan. 6 Capitol riot during an interview Wednesday night.
CNN host Kaitlan Collins asked Christie to respond to DeSantis's answer that he "wasn't anywhere near Washington" and that he didn't enjoy seeing what happened when a student asked him about Trump's involvement on Jan. 6 during a New Hampshire campaign stop.
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"He wasn’t anywhere near Washington. Did he have a TV? Was he alive that day? Did he see what was going on?" Christie responded. "I mean, that’s one of the most ridiculous answers I’ve heard in this race so far. You don't have an opinion about Jan. 6 except to say that 'I didn't particularly enjoy what happened.'"
"People were killed, Kaitlan, as you know, that day, on Capitol Hill defending the Capitol. We had members of Congress who were running for their lives. We had people trying to hunt down the vice president chanting ‘Hang Mike Pence,’” Christie said.
Christie then moved on to attack Trump, the current 2024 GOP front-runner, for not moving swiftly to tamp down the violence. “And Donald Trump, the entire time, sat outside the Oval Office, that little dining room of his, eating a well-done cheeseburger and watching TV and doing nothing to stop what was going on until it got to the point where even he could no longer stand it,” Christie said.
"And he, finally, at 4-something in the afternoon, put out a video asking people to leave the Capitol. And Ron DeSantis doesn't have any opinion on that?" Christie said.
Collins asked Christie how he would respond to Jan. 6 questioning while he campaigns for president.
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“I would say it was one of the most disgraceful days in American history and that the president was principally responsible for it," Christie said. "Through the conduct and his words from election night forward, inciting people and insisting that the election was stolen, [when] it wasn’t. Through his speech that day, when he attacked directly his own vice president and incited those people to be angry at Mike Pence, who was just performing his constitutional duty.”
Christie concluded by saying Trump was "unfit to be president" for enjoying watching the rioting.