Christie pushes back on Trump call to outlaw flipping: ‘That’s the way our system is supposed to work’

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) is pushing back against President Trump’s statement that flipping witnesses should be outlawed in criminal cases.

“That’s the way our system is supposed to work,” Christie, a former federal prosecutor, said on ABC News’s “This Week” Sunday morning.

“It would be wrong to outlaw that, but we have to make sure our prosecutors act responsibly and get corroborating evidence and that may be what the Southern District [of New York] is trying to do.”{mosads}

Trump said last Thursday that flipping should be outlawed after his former lawyer, Michael Cohen, took a plea deal two days earlier.

Cohen pleaded guilty to eight charges, including one campaign finance violation in which the president is also implicated, according to Cohen’s lawyer, Lanny Davis.

Davis has also suggested that there may be no corroborating evidence to accompany Cohen’s testimony that the president ordered him to violate campaign finance law, which Christie pointed out Sunday morning. Davis is a columnist for The Hill.

“I think that one of the things that the president fundamentally misunderstands in that comment that he made is that responsible prosecutors, which I considered myself to be one, you don’t just listen to someone who flips, you corroborate them,” Christie said.

“You have to bring in other evidence, because obviously that person has told different stories at different times,” Christie continued.