Former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R) shrugged off the latest accusations against New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s administration (R) on Monday by saying they were being made by a “lady mayor.”
Barbour was responding to allegations from Hoboken, N.J. Mayor Dawn Zimmer, who accused Christie aides of threatening to withhold Hurricane Sandy relief aid from the city unless the mayor approved a real estate project favored by Christie.
Barbour, a mentor of Christie’s, was asked in an interview with CNN if the accusation hinted at the type of culture within the Christie administration.
“No, I’ll tell you what it gives me concern about, that the news media is willing to leap at any farfetched story with the basis in fact is unbelievable,” Barbour said in an interview with CNN on Monday. “This is a lady mayor who asked for $127 million of hazard mitigation money from the governor to give that to her from the federal money. When the state was only receiving in its entirety $300 million.”
Zimmer’s accusation was “absurd,” Barbour continued.
“It is absurd to think that one town would get well more than a third of the total amount of money. This town that was getting punished got over $70 million in hurricane relief,” Barbour said.
Barbour went on to say that what Zimmer is really just trying to “bluff or rough” Christie up so he’ll come around to her side.
On Sunday, Zimmer reportedly sat down with federal prosecutors about her accusation and provided them with her journal and other documents related to her accusation.
Watch Barbour’s comments, which were posted to YouTube by Christie’s office, below:
