“No, I wasn’t being held hostage,” Chris Christie said Thursday, pushing back against the memes and tweets that seized upon his seemingly somber, distracted expression as he stood beside GOP presidential frontrunner Donald Trump during a Super Tuesday presser.
“This is part of the hysteria of people who oppose my Trump endorsement,” Christie fumed during a press conference in New Jersey. “I don’t know what I was supposed to be doing! I was standing there next to him!” He continued, “Look, I’ve had fun on the Internet at times, too.”
Christie also asserted that he stands by his Trump endorsement because he believes “he would be the best president and the best candidate to beat Hillary Clinton” of all the remaining GOP contenders. And in response to seven New Jersey newspapers—including one from his hometown—calling on him to resign following the endorsement, Christie said the publications were “just trying to be relevant” and have “set themselves on fire.”
And, perhaps from spending too much time with The Donald (who often speaks of himself in the third person) the governor added: “Chris Christie is not interviewing or considering any other job. That has not been part of my discussions with Trump.” He concluded: “My intention is that I am going to serve the rest of my term of governor and then return to the private sector... I cannot foresee the future.”
—Olivia Messer