Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) on Wednesday mocked Donald Trump after the former president was held liable for sexual abuse and defamation, and criticized him for doing the same, although most of his opponents in the 2024 presidential campaign refused to do the same do.
“His reply to me yesterday was ridiculous that he didn’t even know the woman,” said Christie, a potential 2024 candidate in a radio interview with Fox News anchor Brian Kilmeade, who referred to Trump’s denials and testimony that he didn’t know E. Jean Carroll, who says he raped her in the 1990s.
“I mean, you know how many coincidences are we going to have here with Donald Trump? I mean he must be the unhappiest son of a bitch in the world,” added Christie. “I mean, this guy is one person at a time, one woman at a time. The stories keep piling up. And I think we all know that he wasn’t unlucky to behave that way.”
The New York Jury made his decision In the civil lawsuit between Carroll and Trump on Tuesday, after less than three hours of deliberation, the ex-president found himself liable for sexual abuse – but not rape – and said he owed the writer a total of $5 million in damages.
But most Republicans defended Trump on Tuesday, saying the jury that found him liable was not legitimate because it was drafted in a blue state. Some even said it made them even more excited to vote for Trump.
Trump’s challengers and potential contenders in the 2024 GOP race didn’t have much say either, reflecting his continued popularity with Republican primary voters.
“Trump needs to respond to that,” former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who served as Trump’s US ambassador to the United Nations, told radio host Hugh Hewitt on Wednesday. “I think the focus has to be on not getting distracted. So we have to let go of the baggage and negativity.”
“That’s not my case. It’s his case,” she later added.
Former Vice President Mike Pence, who is expected to run in 2024, also declined to comment.
“I think that’s a question for the American people. I really can’t comment on a civil trial verdict,” Pence said in an interview with NBC News.
A rare exception was former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R), who called The verdict is another sign of the former president’s “unjustifiable behavior.”
Christie is reportedly on the verge of making a campaign decision in 2024. The two-time governor, now an ABC News commentator, hypothesized last week that his campaign would be focused on winning Trump, unlike his other stated rivals in the race to challenge directly.
“The way to win is to beat the man who is ahead. And what would a campaign look like? “A campaign would look like a direct, head-on challenge to Donald Trump,” Christie said on the podcast The shipping.
In his interview with Fox News’ Kilmeade, Christie said Trump was embarrassed in 2016 after the release of the Access Hollywood tape, in which he made his infamous “grab her by the pussy” comments. The former president defended those statements in this year’s Carroll trial.
“I was with him when the Access Hollywood tape came out,” Christie said. “And let me tell you something, Brian. He was embarrassed. He was embarrassed that he was now trying to change the whole story, but he was embarrassed.”
“Look, that kind of behavior is unacceptable for someone we call a leader who wants to take the lead again,” he added. “And so I believe this is a silver bullet that ends Donald Trump’s candidacy? No. I just think it’s additional evidence that people will look at and say, you know, if he’s that unlucky guy, Brian, if none of this really happened, then he’s just so lucky. Nor do we want someone so unlucky to become president.”
Do you need help? Visit RAIN’s National Online Sexual Assault Hotline or the National Sexual Violence Resource Center website.