Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says he doesn’t know if former President Donald Trump’s reported 2020 call to Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey was a criminal act, but he does know it was “absolutely unacceptable.”
Mr. Christie, a 2024 rival in the GOP primary, was responding to a Washington Post report that said Mr. Trump leaned on Mr. Ducey to overturn the election results as he headed for a narrow loss against Joe Biden.
“It’s absolutely unacceptable, to be pressuring a governor or any elected official as it was with the secretary of state in Georgia, to try to find votes to be able to win a state that you didn’t win or to try to somehow come up with some kind of ridiculous theory to overturn the results in Arizona,” Mr. Christie told CNN’s “State of the Union” on Sunday.
Mr. Trump faces an investigation into similar claims he leaned on Georgia officials to find enough fraudulent votes to overturn Mr. Biden’s loss. The former president says the 2020 contest was rigged against him and that investigations into his actions are designed to thwart his 2024 bid.
Mr. Christie said Mr. Trump should accept that he underperformed.
“Let me tell you why he lost Arizona. He lost Arizona for the same reason he lost Pennsylvania, he lost Michigan, he lost Wisconsin, and he lost Georgia. Because he had become a caricature of himself,” Mr. Christie said. “Because he had not done the job the American people elected him to do. He had failed on his promises to balance the budget. Failed on his promises to build the wall, and led the Republican Party to loss after loss after loss.”
Mr. Christie, a former federal prosecutor, said it is difficult to know whether Mr. Trump committed a crime without seeing all the evidence.
He also couldn’t say whether Mr. Trump deserves jail time if found guilty.
“I don’t want Donald Trump treated any differently than any other American. And I don’t want him treated worse, and I don’t want him treated better,” he said. “I want to make sure that the facts come out. And if a jury finds him guilty, I want a judge to make that call.”
Mr. Trump dominates the 2024 primary field, often grabbing over 50% of the vote in early polling compared to 20%-plus for his nearest rival, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
Mr. Christie is among the candidates drawing single-digit support, but he is making the media rounds and serving as an attack dog against the front-runners.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.