New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Wednesday said that he was fired from President Donald Trump’s transition team after he opposed Trump’s decision to appoint Michael Flynn as national security adviser.
“I thought it was a significant reason,” Christie said at a press conference, according to Politico.
“Suffice to say, I had serious misgivings, which I think have been confirmed by the fact that he pled guilty to a felony in federal court,” Christie added, per Politico.
Indeed, Christie said in May that he warned Trump several times against hiring Flynn for the role.
“I didn’t think that he was someone who would bring benefit to the President or to the administration,” Christie said in May. “I made that very clear to candidate Trump, and I made it very clear to President-elect Trump.”
Flynn last week pleaded guilty to lying to the FBI about his conversations with Russian officials during the Trump transition. The charging documents from special counsel Robert Mueller revealed that Flynn discussed U.S. sanctions against Russia with the Russian ambassador and asked Russia to help delay or stop a United Nations Security Council resolution condemning Israeli settlements.
House Democrats also revealed this week that a whistleblower alleged that a business associate of Flynn on Inauguration Day 2017 discussed text messages from Flynn promising that the Trump administration would reverse sanctions against Russia that was hurting this business associate’s project.
