New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) on Sunday was forced to take a break from criticizing Democratic presidential frontrunner Hillary Clinton’s use of private email to instead defend his own use of a non-government email account.
“Fox News Sunday” host Chris Wallace reminded the Republican presidential candidate that he deleted 12 text messages that he and a top aide exchanged during a state legislative hearing on the BridgeGate scandal. Wallace also said that emails Christie turned over to a legislative committee investigating the George Washington Bridge lane closures were sent from a Yahoo email account.
“My government business was conducted on a government email account,” Christie countered. “The one email you’re referring to and the only one that they’ve released—it’s only one that they’ve released—involved a press release. So let’s all remain calm.”
Christie said he merely responded to an email from his press secretary that he said he was sure had been sent inadvertently to his private account. He then pivoted back to criticizing Clinton’s use of a private email server as both insecure and disingenuous, adding a heavy dose of sarcasm.
“We can’t compare that to having national security — we’re really not, Chris, are we? —comparing a press release to having national security and classified documents running through a server that’s not protected by the federal government?” the governor shot back.
“We’re really not comparing the fact that she’s wiped away tens of thousands of emails that had relevant information on them because she just believes she’s entitled to do that?” he added.
Watch below around the 6:15 mark: