Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie argued Monday that former President Trump’s current lead in the 2024 GOP primary race is “fatally flawed.” 

During an appearance on MSNBC, host Stephanie Ruhle asked the former New Jersey governor why Trump remains the front-runner despite the legal battles he’s currently facing. 

“Look, I think that he’s the nominee twice in the last eight years, and there’s a lot of folks who still think that sticking with Donald Trump is the way the best way to beat Joe Biden,” Christie said. “I think that’s fatally flawed on a couple of fronts.”

“First, I don’t think Donald Trump is fit to be president of the United States. And that’s one of the reasons I’m running. Secondly, I think if he were the nominee, he wouldn’t beat Joe Biden,” Christie added. 

“And third, I do think that our party needs to restore a sense of decency to the Oval Office, and that would not happen with Donald Trump as president.” 

Christie has focused much of his presidential campaign on making the case against Trump, whom he supported and advised in both 2016 and 2020.

Christie has taken repeated shots at Trump for his nonappearances at GOP presidential debates, calling him “Donald Duck” during the second debate.

“Don’t worry, @realDonaldTrump. Debate stage or coming out of a building, you’ll have to face me one way or another,” Christie wrote on X, a social media platform formerly known as Twitter, earlier this month. “Get ready.”

Trump has been hit with four criminal indictments this year and has a packed court schedule in the coming months.

He was most recently indicted by a Georgia grand jury in August on charges tied to efforts to overturn the 2020 election, an election he lost to President Biden.

Three of his lawyers also charged in that case have taken plea deals in recent days and agreed to testify against other co-defendants, including Trump.