Christie: Wife partly to blame for lack of role in Trump administration

Gov. Chris Christie (R-N.J.) on Wednesday pointed to his wife in explaining why he will not have a role President-elect Donald Trump’s incoming administration.

“[Trump] didn’t offer me a job that I thought was exciting enough for me to leave the governorship,” he said on WFAN’s “Boomer and Carton.” “And [it also is] my family.”

“Mary Pat made really clear she wasn’t coming to D.C. if I went,” added Christie, who unsuccessfully competed against Trump for the GOP’s 2016 presidential nomination. “The fact is, I was really honest with [Trump]. I just said, ‘I don’t want to leave the governorship and leave my family for that.’ ”

{mosads}The New Jersey governor, who is in the final year of his second and last term, added Trump did not begrudge his decision.

“He was great about it,” Christie said. “He was like, ‘I get it.’ The truth of the matter is, the president-elect and I have been friends for 15 years. We’ll be friends long after he leaves the White House.

“I wanted to be president. I ran for president and I lost. And I think it’s very hard to leave after that unless it’s something you feel really called to do, and I didn’t.”

Christie, who served as one of Trump’s most vocal surrogates last year, said the president-elect pitched him on several unspecified positions, adding that each one was described as entertaining.

“He’s the kind of guy, when you’re his friend, he’ll say to you, ‘Come on, we’ll have fun,’ ” Christie said of Trump’s persuasiveness. “My experience with him has been he tries to make it sound so great [and] it is like, ‘How can I say no to that?’ ” 

Trump on Monday, however, told The Wall Street Journal that “at some point we’re going to do something with Chris” in his government.