Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who has advised Donald Trump in the past, said even the president doesn’t believe his own lies about the 2020 election being stolen.
Christie, a Trump critic, said Monday at an event at the Harvard Kennedy School Institute of Politics that the president’s claims that the 2020 election was rigged in favor of former President Joe Biden were “fabricated.”
“The nonsense Donald Trump is spouting about the 2020 election is pure fiction. Pure fiction,” the Republican politician said. “By the way, I was there in 2020. He didn’t even believe it. He didn’t believe it. He thought he lost. He was worried he was going to lose everything that fall.”
independent The White House has been contacted for comment.
Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, who advised Donald Trump, said even the president didn’t believe his own lies about the 2020 election being stolen (Sophie Park/Getty Images)
Trump began to cast doubt on the integrity of the 2020 election months before Election Day. In August 2020, Trump claimed that mail-in ballots “are a very dangerous thing for this country because they are scammers,” adding that they are “fraudulent in many cases.”
To this day, Trump has publicly maintained his baseless claims that the 2020 election was fraudulent and attacked mail-in voting ahead of the midterm elections. This is despite reports that he and his family recently used this method to vote in a special election in his new home state of Florida.
Trump last week issued a legally controversial executive order barring the U.S. Postal Service from sending absentee or mail-in ballots to any voter who does not appear on a list of confirmed U.S. citizens he ordered the Department of Homeland Security to collect.
When asked at the Harvard event whether the country would hold “fair and equal” elections this November and in 2028, Christie insisted, “We’ve never had fair and equal elections, so we will have them again.”
Christie, a Trump critic, said the president’s claims that the 2020 election was rigged in favor of former President Joe Biden were “fabricated” (Alex Brandon-Poole/Getty Images)
Christie suspended his campaign during the 2016 presidential election and later endorsed Trump. He again supported Trump during the 2020 election but later turned against him.
Christie announced he was running for president again in June 2023, saying in an interview with CNN at the time that he was “wrong” about Trump. He quit early in the game.
Christie now appears regularly on ABC News this week Provides his political analysis, often criticizing Trump.
As Christie announced he would run for president in the 2024 election cycle, he said he was “wrong” about Trump after supporting him for years (Jim Watson/AFP via Getty Images)
The former governor accused Republicans at Monday’s event of being “unprincipled.”
“Even for people who agree with some of the things the president is doing, if you’re really honest with yourself, you know it’s not principle-based,” Christie said.
He added: “He wakes up every morning and tries to figure out what is best for him that day, and for that day only, for his own benefit.”
