Paul: Claims against Christie ‘unsettling’

Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) said Sunday that the New Jersey bridge scandal was “unsettling,” and people shouldn’t feel bullied by the government, though he would not speculate as to the truth of the claims against Gov. Chris Christie (R-N.J.). 

In an interview with ABC affiliate KTRK in Houston, Paul was asked whether he thinks Christie should remain chairman of the Republican Governors Association. 

“It’s important that people think that their government not be used to bully them. So for example, one of the things that conservatives have been upset with President Obama is that it looked like he was using the IRS to target taxpayer groups. Nobody wants to think their government would shut down a bridge or do something just because you’re a Democrat, and I’m a Republican. It’s an unsettling charge. I don’t know if it’s true, but it’s unsettling,” Paul said. 

{mosads}At the nearly two-hour-long news conference last month in which Christie defended himself in the bridge scheme, a reporter asked if he considered himself a bully.

“I am not a bully,” Christie shot back.

Paul has previously been critical of Christie, who had been considered the most likely front-runner in the Republican Party’s 2016 presidential bid before the bridge scandal unraveled. Paul is another likely contender.

In January, Paul said on NBC’s “Meet the Press” that it would be difficult for Christie to secure the GOP’s nomination because he isn’t conservative enough. 

“I think there’s room for moderate Republicans in the party, and I really am a believer that we should have an expansive and diverse party ideologically and diverse in many ways,” Paul said, “but the primary is a very conservative process and my understanding is it will be more difficult for a moderate to make it through, because we truly are fiscal conservatives in our party, and we don’t want to spend money we don’t have.”