Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie describes a series of post-2016 election humiliations in his new memoir, including being pushed to consider the role of Republican National Committee chairman, before instead being offered the job of secretary of labor.
When he refused the Labor Department position, he was offered instead to be secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, or ambassador to Italy, or ambassador to the Vatican, he writes — all of which he refused.
“I don’t know what’s going on here, but I’ve had enough,” Christie recounts telling outgoing RNC chairman Reince Priebus, who relayed the disappointing news after then-President-elect Trump failed to show up to a meeting in Trump Tower in New York.
“This is bullshit,” he recalls telling Priebus in Let Me Finish: Trump, the Kushners, Bannon, New Jersey, and the Power of In-Your-Face Politics, which was released Tuesday.
Christie, a key Trump ally during the 2016 election, had been fired as Trump transition team chairman two days after votes were counted, according to Christie, on the orders of Trump’s son-in-law Jared Kushner, whose father Christie had prosecuted and jailed.
After his firing from the transition team, Christie writes, Kushner dangled the position of RNC chairman, as did Trump campaign chairman Steve Bannon and Trump himself.
Bannon, who had communicated Christie’s firing from the transition post, had previously floated Christie becoming attorney general, according to the book.
Christie writes he received “a totally unexpected call — from Jared Kushner” after meeting with top Republican donor Rebekah Mercer at Bannon’s urging about the RNC post.
“He asked if I was truly willing to consider the party chairman idea. I said I was if the president-elect wanted me. Jared said he thought it was a great idea. He said they wanted the benefit of my advice, as they had during the campaign. He assured me he was supportive,” Christie writes.
Shortly after, he received a call from Trump, then president-elect.
“Are you willing to be chairman of the RNC?” Trump asked. “I love the idea. … Let me talk to the guys around here, and then I’ll get back to you.”
Christie, who had been considered a possible White House chief of staff, attributed the non-offer to Priebus, who went on to be Trump’s first White House chief of staff before being fired months later. Ronna Romney McDaniel, a niece of 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, ultimately took the top RNC job.
“I wasn’t the one who had been pushing for Republican chairman. That was Steve Bannon, Rebekah Mercer, Jared Kushner, and the president-elect,” Christie writes. “I was willing to consider the position because it was outside of government and would allow me to stay as governor. Reince obviously wanted his person.”
