New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie used to be the clear frontrunner for the GOP's 2016 presidential nomination. Then Bridgegate happened, and now it's not nearly so clear. Yet even though some of Christie's most stalwart defenders have begun to criticize him in light of his self-exoneration report, Christie has shown every indication of still believing himself to be a presidential contender.
Here's the latest news on Christie:
- The second part of a two-part interview of Christie by Fox News' Megyn Kelly aired Monday night. Neither half of the interview contained much Christie hadn't said elsewhere and already, but part two did feature Christie arguing that the baggage he carries from Bridgegate isn't so heavy as to thwart his presidential ambitions. "If you don’t have baggage they’ll create baggage for you," Christie told Kelly. "That’s politics in America today."
- During the interview, Christie also responded once again to charges from conservatives that his figurative embrace of President Obama during the final days of the 2012 campaign hurt Mitt Romney. Christie noted that no authority less than Mitt Romney himself has dismissed that argument, saying Christie's positive words about Obama, delivered in response to the federal government's aid in helping New Jersey weather Superstorm Sandy, did not make a difference in 2012.
- Christie has been pushing his "internal inquiry" — the report he commissioned and which found him innocent of all Bridgegate-related wrongdoing — as proof of his innocence with regard to Bridgegate (among other scandals), but a Star-Ledger report finds that the internal inquiry's authors didn't speak to anyone at the Port Authority during their investigation.
Shares