Christie talks Trump in Trenton

TRENTON - Facing backlash over his endorsement of Donald Trump, Gov. Christie on Thursday assured critics in New Jersey that he was focused on his duties at home and was not currently scheduled to return to the campaign trail.

He also fired back at naysayers in his party, some of whom expressed astonishment he had backed the billionaire businessman.

"How many of these folks who endorsed no one, including a whole bunch of my fellow governors . . . now sit around and decry the choices they have left?" Christie said at a Statehouse news conference that lasted nearly two hours and began not long after 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney gave a speech warning his party against a Trump presidency.

"I'm a guy who has been in the arena my entire political life. I don't sit on the sidelines, and I don't wait for other people to make things happen. I try to make things happen," Christie said. "So now I'm trying to make things happen, to make sure Hillary Clinton doesn't become president of the United States."

At another point, as he reflected on his failed White House bid, Christie said of Donald Trump, "If he had not been in the race, I would have been the nominee."

After Christie's endorsement of Trump last week, some accused the governor - who had proclaimed during his campaign that "we don't need reality TV in the Oval Office" - of political opportunism.

In New Jersey, several GOP lawmakers suggested the governor should stop campaigning with Trump or resign. And seven newspapers in the state have published editorials calling for the governor to step down.

On Thursday, Christie said he had been out of the presidential race for 22 days, and "I've been here 19 of those 22 days. And I've been working," presenting a budget and meeting with lawmakers.

"And yes, in those 22 days, I also endorsed Donald Trump," Christie said. He said he would rejoin Trump on the campaign trail "on occasion," but "I am not a full-time surrogate for Donald Trump."

Trump paid his travel expenses, he said, and the first time he was on Trump's plane was last Friday.

The costs of his security detail are being paid by taxpayers. "I have no choice" about traveling with security, Christie said. "The cost is being absorbed, as it always is, by the state police."

Of the criticism from editorial boards, Christie said the newspapers were "trying to find some way to be relevant. . . . The only way to do that is to set themselves on fire."

"I have absolutely no intention" to resign, Christie said.

As for his facial expressions while standing behind Trump on Super Tuesday, which have drawn attention on social media, "I wasn't being held hostage," Christie said.

"Listen, I don't know what I was supposed to be doing. I was standing there listening to him," said Christie, whose seemingly dour expression inspired a Twitter hashtag, #FreeChristie. He said "all these armchair psychiatrists should give it a break."

Later, he said, "I understand the nature of standing behind someone. . . . You never look good."

The governor, who dropped out of the 2016 race the day after a disappointing sixth-place finish in New Hampshire, said Thursday that he had thought he could finish as high as third in that primary.

After going on the attack in his final GOP debate against Marco Rubio, spurring the Florida senator to repeat himself multiple times, "we had a renewed spring in our step," Christie said.

He attributed his struggles in the race in part to the crowded nature of the GOP field, noting, "It never got uncomplicated."

A former chairman of the Republican Governors Association, Christie said he had never characterized himself as part of the party "establishment."

But he identified a sentiment among voters that had worked against him and others in the race: "I think there's an anger about Washington, D.C., and I think that the voters have just decided to foist that anger upon anybody who had a title in front of their name."

He said the party couldn't disregard the support Trump had drawn: "I don't think Republicans do well by telling the voters they're wrong."

Earlier Thursday, Romney gave a speech blasting Trump as a "phony" and a "fraud" whose "brand of anger . . . led other nations into the abyss."

"His promises are as worthless as a degree from Trump University," Romney said, calling on Republicans to support another candidate.

Christie, who endorsed Romney and campaigned for him in 2012, said the former Massachusetts governor has "every right to express his point of view."

But "we have a difference of opinion on the presidential race," Christie said. He added: "I'm sure there's others in the race who wish that, you know, he would make an endorsement."

Christie said he disagreed with an earlier statement by Romney accusing Trump of "coddling bigotry."

"I know Donald Trump. He's not a bigot. And he's disavowed David Duke's support a number of times, including for the first time he was asked that question," Christie said, referring to a news conference last Friday. In a subsequent television interview, Trump refrained from disavowing Duke.

Asked whether he had thought about various statements by Trump, including "banning an entire religion from the country," Christie dismissed the question as "ridiculous."

"I have considered all the things that I believe to be relevant, and I've made my choice," Christie said.

Of former Republican Gov. Christie Whitman, who has said she would vote for Clinton over Trump, Christie said, "I couldn't vote for Hillary Clinton. I'm surprised she could."

In addition to the social media stir over his presence behind Trump on Tuesday - "Let them freak out for a while, I don't care" - Christie said that a clip circulated online of Trump directing him to "get in the plane and go home" also had been misinterpreted.

"He was telling me to go head home to my family, and you know why? Because he's known Mary Pat for 14 years. He knows all four of my children," Christie said. "This is not like some political marriage. . . . I'm not a mercenary for him. He cares about me personally."

"The Internet's the Internet. It giveth and it taketh away," Christie said.

Asked about the prospect of being vice president in a Trump administration, Christie said that he "is not interviewing or considering any other public job," and that it had "not been part of my discussions with Mr. Trump" before the endorsement.

"You don't interview for those jobs. You don't campaign for those jobs," he said. "All I can tell you is that my intention is I'm going to serve the rest of my term as governor," which ends January 2018, and "then return to the private sector."

He also said that "I cannot foresee the future."

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