Nicolle Wallace asks Chris Christie if he’s trying to 'clean the Trump stink off' as he ponders 2024 run

Former New Jersey governor and President Trump confidant Chris Christie appeared on Deadline: White House on Tuesday, where Nicolle Wallace called him out for being vocal about Trump’s efforts to overturn the election recently, but being hesitant to criticize Trump earlier in his presidency

“I don’t remember you coming out and forcefully pushing back against Donald Trump’s comments on the Access Hollywood tape. You didn’t defend him but you didn’t withdraw your support,” Wallace said. “I didn’t hear you after he called African nations bleep-hole nations.”

Christie said in an interview on Monday that he would not rule out running for president in 2024, even if that meant running against Trump. Wallace wondered if that might have something to do with his recent condemnation of Trump’s actions.

“I didn’t hear you distance yourself from this president at any point until the target for his ire and lawlessness was the democracy you haven’t ruled out leading in four years,” Wallace said. “Are you simply making a political calculation that you can clean the Trump stink off you faster than Marco Rubio or some of your other competitors?” “No,” Christie answered, “not at all, Nicolle.”

While Christie has defended Trump through multiple scandals in the past, he pushed back on the notion that he hasn’t also spoken out.

“You can pick out ones where you believe I didn’t speak out, and you’re right, I didn’t say things about that, but other things were motivating me at that time,” Christie said. “But when I felt like something in his conduct as president was something that I was incredibly opposed to, and that I thought was very important for our country, I spoke out.”

Deadline: White House airs weeknights at 4 p.m. on MSNBC.

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