Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie blames White House senior adviser and presidential son-in-law Jared Kushner for conducting a political “hit job” against him when he pushed him out of the president’s inner circle, according to Christie’s upcoming book.
Christie, an early Donald Trump backer, led the then-candidate’s transition team until shortly after Trump’s election win in November 2016. Then, Christie was fired in Trump Tower in New York by ex-White House chief strategist Steve Bannon. Christie writes in his new memoir, “Let Me Finish,” that Bannon told him he was being dismissed at Kushner’s request.
“Steve Bannon … made clear to me that one person and one person only was responsible for the faceless execution that Steve was now attempting to carry out. Jared Kushner, still apparently seething over events that had occurred a decade ago,” Christie writes, according to the Guardian.
Christie chalked up Jared Kushner’s decision as an act of retribution in response to Christie’s prosecution of his father, Charles Kushner, in 2005 on illegal campaign contributions, witness tampering, and tax evasion charges. Christie was then the U.S. attorney for New Jersey. The elder Kushner served 14 months in federal prison after pleading guilty to 18 counts, the witness tampering charges stemming from his attempt to blackmail his brother-in-law Bill Schulder by hiring a prostitute to seduce him.
“He implied I had acted unethically and inappropriately but didn’t state one fact to back that up,” Christie writes of Kushner. “Just a lot of feelings – very raw feelings that had been simmering for a dozen years.”
In the book, Christie is also critical of former national security adviser Michael Flynn, whom he described as “a train wreck” and “a slow-motion car crash,” as well as ex-Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who was “not-ready-for-prime-time.” He additionally reveals he turned down roles to serve in the Trump administration as a special assistant to the president, labor secretary, homeland security secretary, and to be the U.S. ambassador in Rome and the Vatican.
“Let Me Finish,” published by Hachette Books, is due for release on Jan. 29.
