Former Republican New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said Sunday that President Trump has not asked him to serve his administration as the country’s next attorney general, despite reports Trump was interested in offering his ally the job.
“He hasn’t asked, and we haven’t even spoken about it,” Christie said during an interview with ABC News’ “This Week” regarding speculation he was being considered for the position after being spotted last week at the White House.
“I was in the White House Thursday for a previously scheduled meeting on prison reform and sentencing reform, which we did a lot of in New Jersey,” Christie said. “It’s been really successful, so the White House has asked me to help with what they are trying to do on the national level.”
Trump last week appointed Matthew Whitaker to temporarily head the Justice Department following the departure of Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
Trump had publicly berated Sessions for choosing to recuse himself from overseeing special counsel Robert Mueller’s federal Russia investigation. Whitaker, however, now faces pressure to step down from the same supervisory role over statements he has made in the past expressing opposition to the probe.
Christie, a former federal prosecutor who served as a 2016 campaign surrogate for Trump after ending his own campaign, was firm in his denial that he was in the running to become the nation’s top law enforcement official.
“I didn’t even see the president or speak to him,” Christie said of his White House visit. “Listen, I’ve been through this dance a lot of times before. The fact is the president makes his own decisions on these things.”
