Chris Christie Says Trump Would Spend Second Term ‘Settling Scores’

Former Republican Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey predicted on Monday during a CNN town hall that former President Donald Trump would spend his second term “settling scores” if he won the 2024 presidential election.

“He’s angry and he’s vengeful, and he said, ‘I will be your retribution,’” Christie told CNN host Anderson Cooper. “Well, I don’t think – I don’t want him to be my retribution. I don’t need him to do that, and I don’t think anybody in America needs it either. He wants to be retribution for himself.”

“In 2016, I declared: ‘I am your voice,’” Trump said to CPAC attendees during a March 4 address to the conservative gathering. “Today, I add: I am your warrior. I am your justice. And for those who have been wronged and betrayed: I am your retribution.”

Christie announced his candidacy for the Republican party’s nomination for president in 2024 on Tuesday, saying he intended to directly take on Trump. Christie, a former supporter of Trump, has been critical of him since the 2020 election.

“I am convinced if he goes back to the White House that the next four years will be all about him settling scores, Anderson, with everybody he thinks wasn’t perfectly nice to him,” Christie said.

“The bottom line is that if you’re lucky enough to become the president of the United States, every day you should wake up thinking about what you do for the people of this country, not what scores you need to settle for yourself,” Christie added.

On Thursday, Trump announced on Truth Social that his attorneys had been told he was being indicted as the result of an investigation into classified documents that were the subject of a 2022 FBI raid on Mar-a-Lago, the Florida estate he owns. The Justice Department unsealed the indictment against Trump on Friday which revealed he will be facing 37 counts, including violating the Espionage Act by retaining records, making false statements and “conspiracy to obstruct justice.”