Former GOP presidential candidate, New Jersey Governor, and federal prosecutor Chris Christie is criticizing President Donald Trump and his recent round of pardons.
[Christie isn’t new to criticizing Trump pardons, which have increased exponentially since his first term. In 2021, Christie found fault with Trump’s pardon of Charles Kushner, whose prosecution Christie had led. Kushner pleaded guilty to 18 counts including tax evasion and witness tampering in what Christie described as “one of the most loathsome, disgusting crimes that I prosecuted when I was U.S. attorney.” Kushner is now the American Ambassador to France.]
On ABC News’s This Week, Christie said of the President: “He’s got categories of pardons. You’ve got the pay-to-play pardon. You’ve got the reality TV stars-turned-supporters, and then you’ve got the folks out there who are victims of what he calls the weaponization of the Justice Department.”
Christie added: “But all of them have one thing in common, which is you’ve got to be whole hog for Donald Trump. Never before we have we seen a president who makes it a gate to getting to a pardon to be a political supporter of his, a vocal current political supporter.”
[Trump’s new DOJ Pardon Attorney, Ed Martin, describes the administration’s pardon philosophy as “No MAGA left behind.”]
Chris Christie: “He’s got categories of pardons…But all of them have one thing in common, which is you’ve got to be whole hog for Donald Trump. Never before we have we seen a president who makes it a gate to getting to a pardon to be a political supporter of his, a vocal current… pic.twitter.com/Gn7S5lfqRe
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) June 1, 2025
When This Week host, former White House communications officer George Stephanopoulos, mentioned that Trump said he would consider a pardon for Sean “Puffy” or “Diddy” Combs, Christie responded, “Right, while the trial is still going on, and he has no idea of the nature and what the quality of the evidence is…If he’s found not guilty, he won’t need a pardon.”
Christie added: “This is just about him trying to be more and more outrageous.”
Christie also mentioned the pardon of Paul Walczak, who, according to Christie “stole $10 million in payroll taxes, the money his employees give to him to pay their payroll taxes” and was granted a pardon by Trump after Walczak’s mother, Elizabeth Fago, paid $1 million to attend a Trump fundraising event at Mar-a-Lago.
Christie added: “The other thing he’s doing here, George, is eliminating white collar crime in America. He’s saying it doesn’t exist. Anything goes.”
Christie’s comments are receiving a lot of support on X, even from those who aren’t “fans” of the former Governor. As one wrote: “First time I would ever agree with Christie after his stunt and eff ups in NJ. But he is right.”
Another responded: “Christie’s last comment is the chilling and the most telling. Trump wants to set the precedent so that he will not be found guilty of the white collar crimes he is now committing.”
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