Christie balks at backing Haley: Imagine if she ‘turned around and endorsed Donald Trump’

by Tara Suter - 02/07/24 1:51 PM ET

Republican presidential candidate former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie speaks at a town hall campaign event at Mitchell Hill BBQ Grill and Brew, Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024, in Rochester, N.H. (AP Photo/Robert F. Bukaty)

Former GOP presidential primary candidate Chris Christie balked at endorsing current candidate Nikki Haley in a Tuesday interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

“Look, imagine the position I’d be in if I endorsed someone who then turned around and endorsed Donald Trump,” Christie told ABC’s George Stephanopoulos. “I’m not gonna be put in that spot again, George. I made a decision in 2016, the only time in my political career, where I endorsed someone purely for political reasons, even though I had some misgivings.”

“And that’s when I endorsed Donald Trump,” Christie continued. “And it was the biggest mistake I’ve made in my political career.”

Haley previously raised her hand when asked at the first 2024 GOP debate if she would still vote for former President Trump even if he were a convicted felon. However, she has ramped up criticism of her former boss as the race to clinch the nomination has gone on and Trump and Haley have become the only two major candidates in the contest.

The former South Carolina governor recently hit Trump over his praise of Chinese President Xi Jinping.

“Praising dictators is not normal. Make America normal again,” Haley wrote Monday on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Her comments came in response to the former president’s recent comments in which he called Xi “very good friend.”

“I got along with him great. I’m not sure he loved what I was doing,” Trump said.

In the same “Good Morning America” interview, Christie called a hot mic moment from last month in which he said Haley would get “smoked,” a “complete mistake.”

“I’ll tell you, George, it was a complete mistake, but the way I found out is actually the funniest part of the story,” Christie said. “I had my phone on vibrate, but the only person whose ringtone bursts through when I have it on vibrate is my son, Andrew. And the phone rang, and I picked it up, and I said, ‘I’m getting ready to go out,’ and he goes, ‘Hot mic! Hot mic! Hot mic!’”