'It is over': Chris Christie tells GOP donors it's time to dump Trump and his 2020 election complaining

In a speech to major GOP donors on Saturday night, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) warned conservatives that it is time to leave Donald Trump and his complaints about the 2020 election behind and move on, reports CNN.

Using the election of Republican Glenn Youngkin as Virginia's new governor after successfully keeping his distance from the former president as an example, Christie said the time of Trump has passed.

With CNN's Maeve Reston writing that the former governor was speaking in Las Vegas at the Republican Jewish Coalition conference in a bid to start a possible 2024 GOP presidential bid, she noted he was the only featured speaker to take on Trump.

"While the others have largely tip-toed around the former President, Christie was the only one to argue that Tuesday night's Republican gains -- namely winning Virginia's gubernatorial race and keeping New Jersey's much closer than expected -- demonstrated that the party must chart a new path forward that advances beyond the grievance politics that have defined the Trump era. If they do not, he warned, they will jeopardize the gains they made last week among women and suburban voters who fled the party during Trump's presidency," she wrote.

According to the report, Christie told the crowd, "We can no longer talk about the past and the past elections -- no matter where you stand on that issue, no matter where you stand, it is over," Christie said. "Every minute that we spend talking about 2020 -- while we're wasting time doing that, Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, Nancy Pelosi and Chuck Schumer are laying ruin to this country. We better focus on that and take our eyes off the rearview mirror and start looking through the windshield again."

The report adds, "In a subsequent interview with CNN, Christie said that with the 2022 elections looming, it is time for Trump to decide whether he wants to be 'a leader for tomorrow or a figure of yesterday.' He added that he believes Trump can be a 'very positive force for Republican candidates' in 2022 if he will 'begin talking about the future and tell the truth about the election and move on.' But he acknowledged that he had 'not a clue' about whether Trump would heed that advice."

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