Chris Christie, a former governor of New Jersey, claimed on Tuesday that if Donald Trump is nominated for president in 2024, the Republican Party’s chances of winning the White House will be destroyed by the upcoming trial of the former president in the special counsel’s election interference case as well as other mounting legal issues.
The trial date for the election interference case in federal court was scheduled for March 4; this is the night before Super Tuesday when most states hold their primaries. U.S. District Judge Tanya Chutkan is presiding over the case.
The timing of that trial along with others in three separate criminal cases regarding the former president, according to Christie, who is challenging Trump for the Republican presidential nomination, will work against the party, he said in an interview on “Morning Joe” on Tuesday. He noted that Trump could be spending up to six weeks in court in the special counsel’s election case starting on March 4 rather than campaigning.
As for being a viable opponent for Joe Biden in the fall election, Christie said, “We simply cannot expect someone who is facing this many criminal trials, and, quite frankly, the actions that underlie those charges.” “And Republicans need to understand that if we lose to Joe Biden, we’re going to be looking at a packed Supreme Court, we’re going to be looking at the end of the filibuster, and we’re going to be looking at a number of other issues that people like me and the rest of the folks in our party can’t have.”
The trial date of March 4 for Trump, according to Christie, “only makes it increasingly evident that he cannot be our nominee. We’re going to lose the election if he is.
After hearing Monday’s arguments from Trump’s attorneys and federal prosecutors on when the matter should go to trial, Chutkan made her judgment. While Trump’s legal team suggested delaying the trial until April 2026, beyond the presidential election, special counsel Jack Smith suggested that the trial begin in January with jury selection starting in December. Chutkan argued that while the date suggested by the special counsel was premature, Trump’s suggestion of 2026 was unreasonable.
Christie, a longtime ally of Trump’s who became one of his most vocal detractors after rejecting his fanciful allegations of election fraud, was questioned about his thoughts on the scheduling of Trump’s trial.
Christie noted his seven years of experience as a prosecutor and claimed Trump’s election involvement case is “relatively straightforward.”
There is only one defendant. In essence, there are four charges, he stated. The notion that they have an additional six months to prepare for trial would be a typical circumstance in the district of New Jersey and, I believe, in almost any federal district in the nation, regardless of size. And typically, you know, things go like this in these situations.
After stating that he is “not surprised by the date,” Christie criticized the Trump campaign’s suggestion to push the trial back until 2026.
He stated, “I thought the 2026 request was ludicrous. “And it doesn’t win you any favor with the judge because of the seriousness of the arguments you make when your lawyers go to make requests like that in the presence of a judge that they patently know is just absurd.”
So, I believe it was a poor strategic choice, he continued. As with the majority of poor decisions made by the Trump legal team, I am confident that it was driven by the client and not the lawyers. They now have a date for March 4th.
An inquiry for comment was not immediately answered by the Trump campaign.
Trump’s attorneys suggested starting the trial in April 2026, citing the significant amount of discovery in the case and Trump’s continued legal troubles in other jurisdictions.
Trump announced on Truth Social that he would appeal Chutkan’s decision to set the trial date for March, claiming that it coincides with Crooked Joe Biden’s political opponent’s campaign against him. “Elections Interfered With!” Chuck Rosenberg, a legal commentator for NBC News, claims that rulings establishing trial dates are not subject to appeal. The commencement of the trial could yet be delayed due to ongoing litigation, though.
This month, a federal grand jury in Washington accused Trump on four counts related to the special counsel’s investigation: obstruction, conspiracy to hinder an official investigation, conspiracy to defraud the United States, and conspiracy to violate the right to vote and have one’s ballot counted. At his arraignment hearing earlier this month, Trump entered a not guilty plea.