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Interviewer:
And we bring in 2024, GOP presidential candidate, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie. We appreciate your time, Governor. In terms of, we played your response, Nikki Haley's comments as well. I want to play a little bit more of what Governor Haley said yesterday, take a look.Show more

Nikki Haley:
And from the south, of course, you know it's about slavery. I guess if you grew up in the south, it's a given that it's about slavery. It was definitely a Democrat plant.

Interviewer:
Governor, you've been through your share of New Hampshire town halls, a lot of them, in fact. What did you make of the efforts to clean up yesterday?

Chris Christie:
Pretty poor Phil, and look, here's the bottom line on this. Nikki Haley has eye-defended her in the fourth debate, as you'll remember, is a smart woman. And she knows better. Look, she's been having this problem for decades in terms of her answer about this. If you go back to a running for governor in 2010, she said that the Civil War was about change versus tradition. We call it slavery a tradition. And change versus tradition, it's not change versus tradition, Phil. It's right versus wrong. And our entire party was founded on the idea of the abolition of slavery. And let's stop with the comments about, well, from the south, so you know that. Well, then she should have said that and known that the first reason given in the secession from the South Carolina government at the time the Civil War began was because the north opposed the expansion of slavery to the Western territories. Now, Nikki knows all that, and she's not saying it because she's afraid to say it, because this has been her whole campaign. She does not want to offend anyone. She won't tell the truth about Donald Trump. Even though she knows that he was the cause of January 6th, she won't say it. Even though she knows that he regularly lies, she won't say it. And even last night, Phil, she was asked by a voter again in New Hampshire, would she categorically rule out being Donald Trump's vice president? And she won't answer the question. These are simple questions to a smart woman. And when she doesn't answer them, you have to believe she's been a slippery, slick politician who wants to be everything to everybody. And it's too late in this game to do that.

Interviewer:
Governor, she was at Governor Heaven's ass last night by somebody who's weighing the two of you, who to vote for in New Hampshire. I think it isn't not an insignificant amount of people in New Hampshire right now. And I want you to listen to what she responded, take a listen.

Nikki Haley (clip)

Interviewer:
How do you respond to that?

Chris Christie:
Yeah, if you call it being evasive and on both sides of an issue bigger, then I guess she is being bigger than that. I mean, look, it's pretty simple here. Donald Trump has been leading in the polls in this race by 20, 25 points for months. And she won't talk about him. She says he was the right president at the right time. She says that for some reason, chaos and drama follow him wherever he goes. You know, that's like the arsonist saying, you know, for some reason, burning buildings follow me wherever I go. This is a guy who sets these fires, divides this country, lies to a son of regular basis, and is under four criminal indictments. And Nikki Haley calls him the right president at the right time and won't preclude being his vice president. Look, this is the important thing for people out there who don't want more of Donald Trump. She's willing to be his running mate. And until she says he isn't, she isn't willing to do that, that we must assume she is, that she's protecting this. And look, if she's wondering about how to answer these questions in New Hampshire, I'm sure Governor Sununu will explain it to her. And hopefully he will over the course of the next 24 hours for her sake. But right now, I think New Hampshire is seeing the slippery, slick, Nikki Haley who won't answer questions definitively. Won't say whether she's willing to be his vice president, won't say whether Donald Trump is unfit to be president, won't say whether slavery is the cause of the Civil War definitively. These are the kind of things that are done to try to protect certain constituencies, Phil. I mean, the fact that matter, she won't bring up slavery because she's, you know, nervous about offending anybody who believes there was another cause for the Civil War.

Interviewer:
She also said Governor that she would be willing to pardon former president Trump if it came to that and she was in office. Do you agree with that?

Chris Christie:
No, I don't. And I've said that definitively that I would not pardon Donald Trump. Because Phil, you know, one of the, you know, and she should know this and be honest about it from when she was a governor, one of the requirements to issue someone apart and is for them to take responsibility for their actions. Do we ever see Donald Trump being willing to take responsibility for actions on anything? And the fact is, this is another one of her resume items to be Donald Trump's vice president. By the way, Mr. President, wink, wink, you know, I would pardon you. Look, this is the worst type of cynical politics where you try to play both sides to the middle. And look, Nikki has a history of doing this in her career. I was hoping it would be different in this campaign than it had been in her campaigns for governor of South Carolina, but it obviously isn't. And now the people who knew Hampshire through this town hall process that you talked about where, and I love the idea about a Democratic plant Phil. Guess who's going to be a Democratic plant in November? Joe Biden and Kamala Harris and Chuck Schumer and Hakim Jeffries. They're all going to be coming after the Republican nominee. And if she's can't answer and won't answer questions like that from a regular citizen in a town hall, how's she going to do up on the stage against Donald Trump, Joe Biden, or any other Democrats will be coming after the Republican nominee next November?

Interviewer:
Governor, it's been very striking that this all comes literally at the same exact time as you just dropped a new ad by, which has a message that I think tracks quite well. I think from your campaign's perspective, in terms of your direct to camera ad, making very clear that you're on a critical specifically about Trump issues, my question is, do you feel like this is an opening for you that things are lining up at the right time in New Hampshire?

Chris Christie:
Look, we're just going to keep working hard, Phil. You know, I, I, I'm not a political pundit. I'm a candidate for president of the United States. But what I will say is I think it shows two different candidates, a candidate who is willing like me to tell the truth no matter the ramifications, no matter whether somebody gets upset with you or gets booed, because guess what, when you're president of the United States, if you can't stand up and sail the truth to a voter in New Hampshire, how are you going to tell the truth to Vladimir Putin or president J? And Nikki has shown an unwillingness to do that because she's unwilling to offend, she's unwilling to tell the truth to people when they need to hear it. America needs to hear the truth about Donald Trump on the only candidate in this race has been willing to do it out loud. And let me tell you, Phil, you know this is true. They all say it in private. They all say it in private. I'm the one who's saying it in public. And if that turns out to be an advantageous contrast for me with voters in New Hampshire, then that just means the rewarding the truth.

Interviewer:
Last night, we saw a main join color out of the second state to kick the former president off the ballot. I know you said this should be decided at the polls. Are you concerned that this actually ends up having the opposite effect of boosting Trump in the race as you try and take him down?

Chris Christie:
Sure. I definitely am because it makes him a martyr. You know, he's very good at playing poor me, poor me. He's always complaining. The poor billionaire from New York who's spending everybody else's money to pay his legal fees, poor me. But when stuff like this happens, you know, this should be decided by the voters of the United States. It should not be decided by courts. And the fact is that while there may be people may think there's some justification for doing this, it's not good for our democracy. In the end, Donald Trump should be defeated by the voters at the polls and defeated by someone like me who is willing to tell the truth about him. That's the way we defeat him and we end the scourge of Donald Trump in our party and in our country. Phil, I got it to this race to tell the truth because I'm fighting not only for the soul of my party, but for the soul of this country. And we don't need someone who sends out a Christmas message who says anyone who disagrees with them should rot in hell. That's what he said after his Thanksgiving message where he said he was thankful for all the people he hated. This is not the kind of person we need behind the desk in the Oval Office. Someone who hates someone that tells people to rot in hell. And I think if we say this enough and by the way, if Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis and Vivek Robis Swami and the other candidates who have since dropped out had not raised their hands at the August debate and said I'll support him even if he's a convicted felon and enabled him. We probably would have had him down in the polls and maybe out of this race if all of us had told the truth. But I don't care that I'm the only one I've got to keep doing it.

Interviewer:
Is a busy couple of weeks ahead, certainly in New Hampshire, but across the primary structure. Governor Chris Christie, we appreciate your time. So there's always thank you.

Chris Christie:
Phil, thanks for the time this morning and happy New Year.