Though he is sticking by Donald Trump, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) said he was “really disturbed and disappointed” by a leaked tape in which Trump makes predatory comments about women.
“It is completely indefensible and I won’t defend it and haven’t defended it,” Christie, who leads Trump’s White House transition team, said Tuesday on WFAN’s “Boomer and Carton.” “I made that very clear to Donald on Friday when this first came out and urged him to be contrite and apologetic because that’s what he needs to be.”
These unusually harsh words are the New Jersey governor’s first public comment on the “Access Hollywood” tape published by the Washington Post Friday, in which Trump boasted about using his celebrity status to do “anything” he wanted to women.
Christie appeared at Trump Tower on Saturday as the campaign strategized over how to triage the fallout from the video, but did not attend Sunday night’s debate because of “issues to deal with” in New Jersey, according to NJ.com.
While Christie told “Boomer and Carton” he was “still supporting Donald,” he said that he was “embarrassed for him and his family” and understood why other supporters would withdraw their endorsements.
“I’m not going to sit here and be critical of other people who make the decision that they don’t want to support him,” he said.
Over two-dozen Republicans in Congress have already done so. New Jersey’s Republican lieutenant governor, Kim Guadagno, also announced this weekend that she would break with Christie and not vote for Trump.
Christie, who is typically one of Trump’s most aggressive public defenders, said on WFAN that the recording made him “think about” his own support for Trump and that he was “disappointed, in some respects” by Trump’s response.
“I would have done it much differently, but I do think he’s sorry and I do think he’s embarrassed by it,” Christie said. “I think that he should have been much more direct and much more focused on just saying I’m sorry and only I’m sorry.”
