Donald Trump on Monday launched a blistering attack against New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who has been surging in polls in New Hampshire.
“It’s ridiculous to back Chris [Christie],” Trump told New Hampshire’s WMUR Monday, referring to the New Hampshire Union Leader’s endorsement last month of the New Jersey governor.
“His state is number 50 out of 50 economically. It’s the worst state in the union in terms of economics. His taxes are high, he’s had at least nine downgrades of his bonds,” Trump said.
The billionaire continued, blasting Christie for the Bridgegate scandal despite the release of a report last December clearing the two-term governor of any involvement.
“The George Washington bridge – it’s impossible to believe he didn’t know about it,” Trump said. “How could they close down the largest bridge and most-traveled bridge in the U.S. and he didn’t know about it? It’s impossible that he didn’t know about it … everybody knows he knew about it.”
“In addition to that, [Christie] was so warm and so happy to have Barack Obama in the state of New Jersey that I personally think it could have cost [Mitt] Romney the election,” Trump added, referring to the now-infamous photo of Christie embracing President Obama during a visit to the Garden State just six days before his re-election in November 2012.
“I saw that whole event when Obama went to New Jersey … and I actually thought Christie was going to vote for Obama based on that whole episode,” he said. “It cost tremendously in terms of votes for the Republican Party.”
Recent polls show Christie tied for, or securing the second place spot in New Hampshire, behind Trump. A WBUR survey of Granite State Republicans released in mid-December showed the governor at 12 percent support, ahead of Sens. Marco Rubio, Fla., and Ted Cruz, Texas.
Christie has also risen to the No. 4 spot in the Washington Examiner’s presidential power rankings, putting him just behind second-place Trump.
