As the news broke late yesterday that former President Donald Trump was to be indicted on federal charges, one of Trump’s rivals for the 2024 GOP nomination, former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, warned that patience was required.
Every major news outlet headlined the development, but Christie cautioned against jumping to conclusions too quickly. Not least because the source of the indictment news was Donald Trump himself.
Neither Special Counsel Jack Smith nor the Justice Department had made any public statement when Trump broke the news of his alleged indictment on his Truth Social account.
Christie — both weary and wary of having Trump dictate the news cycle and set the narrative — issued a warning, saying: “We don’t get our news from Trump’s Truth Social account. Let’s see what the facts are when any possible indictment is released.”
We don’t get our news from Trump’s Truth Social account. Let’s see what the facts are when any possible indictment is released. As I have said before, no one is above the law, no matter how much they wish they were. We will have more to say when the facts are revealed.
— Chris Christie (@GovChristie) June 9, 2023
Christie, a lawyer, added: “As I have said before, no one is above the law, no matter how much they wish they were. We will have more to say when the facts are revealed.”
The news from Trump’s Truth Social, which Christie looks askance at, was this:
“I have been summoned to appear at the Federal Courthouse in Miami on Tuesday, at 3 PM. I never thought it possible that such a thing could happen to a former President of the United States, who received far more votes than any sitting President in the History of our Country, and is currently leading, by far, all Candidates, both Democrat and Republican, in Polls of the 2024 Presidential Election. I AM AN INNOCENT MAN!”
Trump on Truth Social
Christie has pledged to hold Trump accountable in the electoral sphere in the way Smith is charged with holding Trump accountable in the legal sphere. Christie’s job may be harder, as there are few hard and fast rules to electoral popularity and Trump explodes most of them anyway – consider that the twice-divorced billionaire former Democrat is the political favorite among Evangelical Christians.
But Christie has vowed to work with the facts and seek truth amidst the misdirection campaigns, as below where he warns: “beware of the leader who has never made a mistake and never done anything wrong.”
Beware of the leader who has never made a mistake and has never done anything wrong.
— Chris Christie (@GovChristie) June 8, 2023
I own my mistakes. pic.twitter.com/SycMrlkGvM
