Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie claimed former President Donald Trump was culpable for the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
Christie has been sparring with Trump over 2020 election fraud claims and the state of the Republican Party. He’s continued to say that rehashing allegations of fraud ruins all Republicans’ image, even when they’re trying to be nonpartisan. Christie also said he called Trump on Jan. 6 to quell the protesters to no avail.
Christie told The View co-host Sunny Hostin that Trump is responsible for the riot.
“Where people miss it is they talk about his speech that day,” he said. “I don’t think it was the speech that did it. I think it’s everything he did from election night forward.”
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Christie criticized Trump on Nov. 7 at a Republican Jewish Coalition conference in Las Vegas, saying he can’t lead the party if he keeps pushing election fraud.
“If all we’re going to do is talk about grievance politics and put out statements saying either you reverse the 2020 election or Republicans shouldn’t vote in ’22 and ’24, I mean, that can’t be the leader of our party,” Christie said. “It just can’t.”
Trump made a statement on Christie’s accusation the next day.
“Chris Christie, who just made a speech at the Republican Jewish Coalition (RJC) in Las Vegas, was just absolutely massacred by his statements that Republicans have to move on from the past, meaning the 2020 Election Fraud,” Trump said.
Christie continued with the back-and-forth on Monday, saying Trump has “no evidence” to support election fraud claims.
“You can’t come out as president of the United States behind the seal of the presidency in the East Room of the White House and say to the American people, ‘The election’s being stolen,’ if you don’t present any evidence.”
The former president “incited those folks from that moment on. The speech at the end, quite frankly, I thought was not nearly as big a deal as the two months before the speech,” he added.
“He didn’t take steps that day to stop it.”
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Christie’s book, Republican Rescue, will be released Tuesday.
