WASHINGTON — Former New Jersey governor and 2024 Republican presidential hopeful Chris Christie, who has shown no reluctance to attack Donald Trump, has sued the former president for presenting his indictments to his supporters during a a conservative political conference.
“He is a liar and a coward. He will not be charged for anyone other than because of his own conduct,” Christie said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union.”
Speaking at the Turning Point Action conference, Trump told attendees on Saturday that he considers his indictments “a great badge of honor and courage.”
“I do it for you. I am on trial for you. Better me than you, right? Trump said, adding that he believed he was indicted on behalf of “more than 200 million people who love our country, way more than 200 million.”
Trump was first indicted in March by a grand jury in New York for his alleged role in a silent payout scheme to two women who claimed to have had sex with Trump before the 2016 election. indicted by a federal grand jury for his alleged mishandling of classified documents after leaving the Oval Office.
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Christie mocked Trump’s statements and took aim at the former president’s documents case on Sunday, saying that “there are no other of the 200 million Americans he spoke of who illegally kept classified national secrets after being asked politely, discreetly and professionally for 18 months to voluntarily turn them over.
“There are none other of those 200 million Americans who lied to their own lawyers about where these documents were and there are none of those other 200 million Americans who lied to prosecutors about it and showed documents about an Iranian warplane to anyone who did ‘I don’t have permission to see them,’ he added.
Christie referenced a 2021 audio recording of Trump discussing what he apparently knew was a classified Pentagon document linked to a potential attack on Iran, among other allegations in the former indictment. president.
“He is being charged because of his outrageous conduct,” Christie said. “When he says he’s doing it for us, that’s a lie. And when he did everything he said he was doing with these documents, it shows exactly how cowardly he is.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Chris Christie says Donald Trump has been indicted for ‘outrageous conduct’