Christie joins effort to sway Booker to reject Iran deal

NEW BRUNSWICK, N.J. - Gov. Christie joined rabbis and groups advocating for Israel's security Tuesday to call on U.S. Sen. Cory A. Booker (D., N.J.) to oppose the proposed nuclear deal with Iran.

"We cannot permit a treacherous, murderous, deceitful regime to possess the most dangerous weapon that the world has ever invented," Christie said at the Chabad House at Rutgers University. "To me, that's not anything other than common sense."

He bashed President Obama, describing the Democratic president as "in too deep" and "obsessed" with his legacy. "The American people need to save him from himself," Christie said.

Obama has said the only alternative to the deal - reached by six world powers and Iran - is eventual war. Backers say it is the only viable way to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon, at least for many years. Critics, including Christie, have charged that the deal would do too little to police Iran and curtail its nuclear capabilities.

Asked whether he would remove the United States from the deal as president, Christie said, "It is a bad deal. It is a deal that is not in the interest of the people of the United States. I think the folks in New Jersey have learned over the last six years that when I think something is a bad deal, I take action to try to change it."

At least one of the leading candidates for the GOP presidential nomination, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, has said he would rip up the agreement on his first day in office, though such rhetoric has been panned as unrealistic by Jeb Bush.

While Christie called on Congress Tuesday to "substitute for the moral clarity that this president lacks," he said he didn't fault Obama for "attempting to talk" to Iran.

He also invoked a bipartisan message, asking the New Jersey congressional delegation to unite "as we did after Hurricane Sandy" and singling out Booker.

"He needs to join with Sen. [Robert] Menendez in his opposition to this deal and pledge to the people of New Jersey and the people of this country, that if the president has the audacity to veto the defeat of this deal sent to him by Congress, that he will stand up and vote to override this president's veto," Christie said.

Menendez is one of just two Senate Democrats to announce their opposition to the deal in a chamber where Republicans will need 60 votes - and at least six Democrats - to pass a resolution trying to kill the agreement, and then 67 votes to override a promised veto from Obama.

With the Senate vote still in question and expected to be close, Booker has not announced his position, though he has faced intense pressure from both sides in a state with a large Jewish population.

"I find it astonishing that 70 years after the Holocaust . . . the Jewish people now face another annihilatory threat from a genocidal regime," Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, a North Jersey rabbi who is director of a group called the World Values Network, said at Tuesday's event.

Boteach, who ran unsuccessfully as a Republican for a congressional seat, said, "There is no way that I can imagine that a man as noble and righteous as Sen. Cory Booker" could "legitimize" the Iranian government.

Silvia Alvarez, a spokeswoman for Booker, said Tuesday the senator "will make his decision on the Iran deal based upon what he believes is best for America's national security regardless of political pressure, lobbying, or theatrics."

She added: "The senator's decision will be derived from thorough and thoughtful analysis of all the facts, evidence, and information as well as from consultation with a wide and diverse array of experts."

While Booker was the stated target of the event, Christie seemed to be its focus.

Touting the governor as "our special speaker," Boteach called it "a statement of character" that Christie "took the time" to appear at the New Jersey event - leaving the presidential campaign trail and "states with very important primaries."

The event was billed as a campaign event - a rarity in New Jersey since Christie declared his candidacy in his hometown of Livingston on June 30. (The governor spoke at a fund-raiser for his campaign in Asbury Park this month.)

Christie, meanwhile, cast his presence as part of his duty as a state leader.

"Because I'm the governor of the state of New Jersey," he told a reporter who asked what the rationale was for holding the event, since he had already spoken to Booker privately.

"This is not a political issue, but an issue of morality," Christie said. "I'm not just speaking to Cory today - I'm speaking to all the members of the congressional delegation, and beyond."

South Jersey Rep. Donald Norcross is one of a handful of Democrats who have said they will oppose the deal in the House, along with Rep. Albio Sires, from Hudson County. Rep. Donald Payne, of Essex County, is the only New Jersey Democrat to say definitively that he will support the plan. The state's other three House Democrats have not taken a position.

Republicans are expected to mount unanimous - or near-unanimous - opposition.

Philadelphia Rep. Brendan Boyle is another House Democrat who this week announced his opposition to the agreement.