Chris Christie on Cohen Hearing: No Republicans Are Actually Defending Trump on ‘Substance’

During the first break of Wednesday’s much-anticipated House Overnight Committee testimony of former Trump attorney Michael Cohen, former New Jersey governor and long-time Trump ally Chris Christie made a keen observation: Republican committee members have not at all attempted to defend Trump “on the substance” of Cohen’s allegations.

At the start of the hearing Wednesday, the former Trump fixer shredded the president as a “racist,” “conman” and a “cheat,” adding that he was “ashamed” that he took part in “concealing Mr. Trump’s illicit acts.” Cohen also provided a series of documents corroborating some of his testimony.

With committee Republicans entirely focused on destroying Cohen’s credibility as a witness, Christie—now a paid ABC News analyst—observed that it really stood out how Republicans were not actually defending the president.

“The interesting thing is that there hasn’t been one Republican yet who has tried to defend the president on the substance, and I think that’s something that should be concerning to the White House,” Christie noted.

Asking “why are no Republicans standing up and defending the president on the substance” in the hearing, the former Trump transition-team chief added that this is “either a failure of those Republicans on the Hill or a failure of the White House to have a unified strategy with them.”

Christie concluded that they had to know this was coming with Cohen, so it will be a tired line of attack going after Cohen as the hearing continues.

“He’s not a credible witness, but he does have corroboration on certain things,” he asserted, asking once again: “Where is the defense of the president?”