Christie remains silent on Trump video
A number of Republicans in Washington and across the country over the weekend condemned GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump for making degrading remarks about women in a decade-old video that surfaced Friday.
A number of Republicans in Washington and across the country over the weekend condemned GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump for making degrading remarks about women in a decade-old video that surfaced Friday.
Some prominent Republicans, such as 2008 presidential nominee Sen. John McCain, withdrew their support, while others, including Trump's own running mate, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence, refused to defend their party's standard-bearer.
But Gov. Christie, the self-styled "tell-it-like-it-is" leader whose blunt talk and willingness to take on everyone from reporters to the Republican speaker of the House once endeared him to voters in New Jersey and nationally, has not addressed the issue publicly.
He did not appear on CNN Sunday morning as scheduled; former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani took his place.
Seventy-two hours after the Washington Post published a video showing Trump bragging that because of his fame, he could kiss women or grab them by the genitals with impunity, Christie has remained conspicuously silent on the matter.
That seemed unlikely Monday to change anytime soon, especially after Trump rebuked Paul Ryan, the House speaker, for saying he would focus on down-ballot races and no longer defend Trump.
"Paul Ryan should spend more time on balancing the budget, jobs and illegal immigration and not waste his time on fighting Republican nominee," Trump wrote on Twitter.
Trump has apologized for his comments but also downplayed them as "locker-room talk." Trump says his mistake pales in comparison to allegations of Bill Clinton's sexual abuse of women and Hillary Clinton's intimidation of her husband's victims.
After dropping out of the GOP presidential race in February, Christie quickly endorsed Trump and soon became a top adviser. The governor is running Trump's White House transition team.
Christie's office wouldn't say Monday whether or when Christie would make a statement. Bill Palatucci, a longtime adviser to Christie, said that as general counsel to the transition team, he had to refer media inquiries to the Trump campaign.
Christie was seen Saturday heading into Trump Tower in Manhattan but did not travel with Trump to Sunday's debate in St. Louis.
"All we know is that his absence is suspicious," said Patrick Murray, a political analyst at Monmouth University. "But the possible reasons why run such a large gamut that we can't begin to guess a lot."
As a presidential candidate, Christie said Trump's denigration of Mexican immigrants as "rapists" and "criminals" was "unfortunate." The governor also dismissed Trump's call in December for a ban on Muslim immigration as a "ridiculous" position.
Since Christie dropped out of the race, he has mostly stood by his friend through multiple controversies.
As for the GOP nominee's latest imbroglio, Christie and party Chairman Reince Priebus privately told Trump he needed to apologize, according to the Post.
Trenton hasn't been entirely silent. Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, a Republican, wrote on Twitter Saturday: "No apology can excuse away Mr. Trump's reprehensible comments degrading women. We're raising my 3 boys to be better than that."
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