Cruz defends Rand Paul in feud with NJ Gov. Chris Christie

Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is siding with Sen. Rand Paul (R) in the Kentucky lawmaker’s growing feud with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) over national security policy. 

{mosads}”I am proud to stand side by side with Rand Paul. He and I have been fighting over and over and over again in the Senate to defend our constitutional liberties,” Cruz said in an interview on Fox News’s online “Power Play” show. 

“And I’ll say this, some of this tiff — Gov. Christie is entitled to his view. He’s entitled to express his views. I think most Americans don’t care about politicians bickering in Washington.”

Cruz, Paul and Christie have all been touted as possible Republican presidential candidates in 2016. Cruz, first elected to the Senate in November, has aligned with Paul on several occasions. 

The Texas senator was one of Paul’s biggest supporters when the Kentucky senator staged a filibuster over John Brennan’s Senate confirmation to be CIA director until the Obama administration answered a question on drone policy. 

The current Paul-Christie feud started last week when, during a panel at the Aspen Institute on Thursday, the New Jersey governor warned of the “dangerous” libertarian streak running through the Republican Party on national security. 

Paul has questioned the legitimacy of the Obama administration’s drone strikes and publicly praised National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden, who disclosed classified information on secret surveillance programs.

In response, Paul tweeted the New Jersey governor “worries about the dangers of freedom. I worry about the danger of losing that freedom.” 

More recently, Paul jabbed Christie and Rep. Pete King (R-N.Y.) for pushing Congress to pass more hurricane relief funding after Hurricane Sandy. 

On Sunday, Paul said Christie and King are “precisely the same people who are unwilling to cut the spending, and their ‘gimme, gimme, gimme — give me all my Sandy money now.”

Cruz made similar comments about the Paul-Christie spat on other radio appearances on Monday. 

On “The Andrea Tantaros Show,” Cruz also said that Christie is “certainly entitled to these opinions, and he does not seem shy about sharing those.”