Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie opened up about his viral New Hampshire hot mic incident in which he criticized his 2024 Republican rival candidates.
Christie told George Stephanopoulos his side of the story Tuesday morning in an interview on Good Morning America to promote his new book, What Would Reagan Do? and repeated the comments he made unbeknownst to the fact that he was being broadcast worldwide.
“It was a complete mistake, but the way I found out is actually the funniest part of the story,” he said.
The former governor explained that his phone was on vibrate during the incident, but his son Andrew’s call was able to come through. When Christie picked up the phone, Andrew warned, “Hot mic, hot mic, hot mic!” Then the livestream abruptly ended before restarting minutes later.
Christie was discussing his competition in the GOP primary when his audio began playing on the livestream. He was heard saying former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley was “gonna get smoked” and that she was “not up to this.”
“It’s one of those moments I wish, quite frankly, hadn’t happened, just because it was a distraction. But on the other hand, I didn’t say anything on the hot mic that I didn’t essentially say in the speech that I gave about 10 minutes later,” he told Stephanopoulos.
“I heard everything you said last night, including the hot mic,” Haley said, according to Christie, addressing the hot mic incident over the phone the day after he announced his campaign would be suspended. Christie said there was “no apology warranted” and none given to Haley for his comments.
Christie said he can’t imagine endorsing Haley down the road, comparing the idea to when he endorsed former President Donald Trump in 2016. He said that “that was the biggest mistake I made in my political career” and was the only time he ever endorsed someone “purely for political reasons.”
“The one thing I can tell you for sure is I don’t know what I’m gonna do in November,” he said. “But I’m not voting for Donald Trump, under any circumstances.”
Christie signed a loyalty pledge with the Republican National Committee that he would support whoever the Republican nominee is, and the only two candidates left in the GOP race are Trump and Haley. Haley also signed the pledge, but Trump refused. Christie has previously called such pledges a “useless idea.”
“I don’t know who the full field’s gonna be yet. And there might be a No Labels candidate,” he said in reference to an organization considering a third-party ticket to run against presumptive nominees Trump and President Joe Biden.
“If there was ever a time in our lifetime when a third-party candidate could make a difference, I think it’s now,” Christie said.
The anti-Trump Republican, who has described himself as the only GOP candidate who was truly running against the former president, advised that to beat Trump in 2024, Democrats should “replace Joe Biden.”
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“I just think that Joe Biden is probably the only major Democrat who Donald Trump could beat,” he said.
The Washington Examiner reached out to Christie and Haley for comment.
