Christie says he was ‘wrong’ in believing he could help Trump be a ‘better president’

GOP presidential candidate Chris Christie said Sunday that he was “wrong” to think that he could help former President Trump be a “better president.”

“Look, I made it very clear in 2016 I did not want Hillary Clinton to be president of the United States and I think that was the right decision,” the former New Jersey governor told host Robert Costa on CBS’s “Face the Nation.”

“And my hope back in 2016 was that I can make Donald Trump a better candidate, and if he won, a better president. I tried, and I was wrong. I couldn’t make him a better president. And he failed over and over again,” he added.

Christie made a bid for the White House in 2016 alongside the former president, and has since had a rocky relationship with Trump. Christie served on Trump’s 2016 transition team, but was fired over reported tensions with Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner. Christie then helped Trump prepare for debates in 2020, something that Christie now claims will help him face the former president on the debate stage.

Christie, who announced his 2024 campaign earlier this month, has consistently taken aim at Trump over the past few months and most recently after the former president pleaded not guilty to 37 federal charges over his alleged mishandling of classified documents and attempts to keep them from the government. Christie has painted himself as an alternative to Trump, saying that he can be the candidate who will “go big.”

“We need a president who once again is not looking at this small stuff in the rearview mirror, who’s constantly whining and complaining and moaning about how things are unfair,” he said on Sunday. “What we need as a party, and as a country, is a president who will go big, lead America to big achievements and big goals again, and there’s nobody, Bob, who can do big better than me.”