Chris Christie urged GOP primary voters to not support former President Trump after the former New Jersey governor dropped out of the race Wednesday.
Christie announced at a New Hampshire campaign event Wednesday that he would be suspending his campaign for the presidency, saying that he sees no viable path for him to clinch the GOP nomination. During his announcement, he told voters that they should not vote for the former president because he would choose himself over the American people.
“Donald Trump wants you to be angry every day, because he’s angry,” Christie said during his New Hampshire event. “He wants you to be angry so that you’ll relate to his anger and then to vote for him. Please understand this: I have known him well for 22 years, more than anybody else in this race has known him.”
He continued, “And I can promise you this — if you put him back behind the desk in the Oval Office and the choice comes and a decision is needed to be made as to whether he puts himself first or he puts you first. How much more evidence do you need? He will pick himself.”
Christie has been the most outspoken critic of Trump within the GOP primary candidate pool. While his bid for the White House was a long shot, dropping out of the race was a surprise move because he previously said he would leave the race if he did not do well in the New Hampshire primary at the end of the month.
Trump remains the likely front-runner in the GOP primary. Two of his opponents, former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, are slated to take the CNN debate stage in Iowa on Wednesday night. While Trump qualified for the debate, he will not be in attendance and will instead hold his own town hall event on Fox News.
After Christie suspended his campaign, Trump wrote in a social media post that he “might even get to like him again.” He also commented on Christie’s hot mic incident where the former governor could be heard saying Haley is “gonna get smoked.”
“I hear Chris Christie is dropping out of the race today — I might even get to like him again! Anyway, he was just caught on a hot mic making a very truthful statement: ‘She’s gonna get smoked…You and I both know it, she’s not up to this,’” Trump said.