'He'll do everything he can to keep Chris Christie off the debate stage': Ex gov says Trump terrified of former ally

Chris Christie will enter the 2024 Republican presidential primary – and he may be one opponent Donald Trump doesn't want to face in a debate.

The former New Jersey governor is expected to formally announce Tuesday that he's entering an increasingly crowded GOP primary, and Christine Todd Whitman -- another Republican former governor of that state -- told MSNBC she supported the move.

"He has nothing to lose by getting in it," said Whitman, who has since left the GOP to form the centrist Forward Party. "He raises his profile nationally, which is nowhere as you can see from that poll right now. He enjoys the battle and can certainly compete with Trump.

"The problem for him is to get on the debate stage. He's got a record to run on, good and bad, people will look at that, but his numbers right now are not in a place I'd think it's going to be highly probable that he gets on the debate stage. He's done a lot of analysis and figures that it's worth his while to do this."

Whitman conceded that a crowded field benefited Trump, but she said the former president may not want to face off with a candidate who famously helped him prepare for 2020 debates against President Joe Biden.

'I think with all the candidates in there, in fact they might make it easier for Donald Trump to win," she said. "Of course, getting on the debate stage, one thing Donald Trump absolutely commands is the internal political working of the national committee and the apparatus. He'll do everything he can to keep Chris Christie off the debate stage."

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