In an interview timed to promote his new book that is coming out on Nov 16th, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie (R) dismissed the notion that Donald Trump's speech at the "Stop the Steal" rally on Jan 6th led to the riot at the U.S. Capitol that same day.
Christie, who has been leading a campaign to get Republicans to put the unsupported 2020 election theft accusations behind them -- and Donald Trump as well-- seemed to downplay Trump's culpability for the insurrection attempt in an interview with the Times' Maggie Haberman.
As Christie sees it, the riot was a culmination of months of Trump's inflammatory rhetoric.
"Mr. Christie does not blame Mr. Trump's speech on Jan. 6 for the violence that followed at the Capitol by his supporters. He said instead that it was the months of Mr. Trump's false claims that the election was stolen from him that instilled anger in those who believed him," Haberman wrote, with her quoting Christie stating that the chaos "was months long in coming. As a leader, you need to know that there are consequences to the words you use. And that those consequences at times can be stuff that you may not even be able to anticipate."
"I don't believe he anticipated that people would cause violence up on Capitol Hill. But I don't think he thought about it, either," Christie elaborated.
As for his relationship with the former president now after being an advisor, Christie claimed Trump needs to get over his "personal vendetta," with Haberman reporting Christie, "would not make a decision about running for president in 2024 until after the midterm elections in 2022. He said that Mr. Trump would not factor into his thinking and that he would not rule out supporting the former president if he saw no path for himself."
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