Former Republican New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was booed at a conference in Washington, D.C., after criticizing the leadership of former President Donald Trump.
“I’m running because he’s let us down,” Christie said to a crowd at the Faith & Freedom Coalition event on Friday, referencing Trump. “He has let us down because he’s unwilling to take responsibility for any of the mistakes that were made and any of the faults that he has and any of the things he’s done, and that is not leadership everybody. That is a failure of leadership.”
At that point, several people in the largely pro-Trump crowd booed the former New Jersey governor.
“You can boo all you want,” the Republican presidential candidate responded. “But here’s the thing. Our faith teaches us that people have to take responsibility for what they do. People have to stand up and take accountability for what they do.”
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Chris Christie speaking at the Faith & Freedom Coalition event on Friday in Washington, D.C. (Faith & Freedom Coalition)
Several members of the crowd applauded in response to that line.
Christie then began to name the “great list of Americans” who worked in the Trump administration but have publicly soured on the president, including former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson and former Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis.
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Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie speaks at the Republican Jewish Coalition Annual Leadership Meeting in Las Vegas, Nevada, on November 19, 2022. (WADE VANDERVORT/AFP via Getty Images)
“We love Trump,” someone in the crowd shouted as he listed the names.
“You can love him all you want,” Christie responded. “But I will tell you that doing those kinds of things makes our country smaller.”
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Former President Donald Trump arrives to speak at Trump National Golf Club in Bedminster, N.J., Tuesday, June 13, 2023 (AP Photo/Andrew Harnik)
Christie addressed the boos after the event to reporters outside and said that “we can’t pretend that Donald Trump is a man of character.”
Christie has vowed to be the alternative to Donald Trump on the campaign trail and told Fox News Digital in an interview in New Hampshire on Thursday that his game plan for pumping up his favorable ratings is to “come up here, and you campaign.”
“Remember this,” Christie said. “Eight years ago, when I came up here, my unfavorables were upside down 25 points in the first poll. And on primary night, my favorables were up plus 30, so a 55-point swing. You know, look, people get to know me, I usually do pretty well.”
