Christie mum on whether Trump will pick him to lead drug commission

Gov. Christie was mum Monday on whether President Trump will tap him to lead a national commission to combat the opioid crisis. But he didn't dismiss the prospect.

"We'll see," the governor said on his monthly call-in radio show on New Jersey 101.5. "I don't jump any announcements by the president of the United States."

The Washington Post reported Sunday night that Trump plans later this week to announce a drug commission that will be chaired by Christie.

The governor — who has pledged to devote his final year in office to battling addiction — said Monday that "if the president has something to announce, he'll announce it when he wants, and then I can respond if I'm involved in any way."

But he said he had spoken with Trump about the issue of addiction "many times. He's very concerned about it."

"Anything I can do to help families who are in desperate straits … that's what we should do, and what I'm going to try to do," Christie said.

An early Trump backer and longtime friend of the president's, Christie offered little insight on other developments involving the administration.

He said he didn't know how Attorney General Jeff Sessions's warning Monday about stripping funding from so-called sanctuary cities would affect such municipalities in New Jersey — although, Christie said, "people should just comply with the law."

On the health-care bill's collapse last week, Christie said he wasn't surprised the bill was pulled, though he didn't elaborate on the legislation or the reason for its failure. "They may have been too trusting of certain people's assurances," he said. "This is not easy. What I've been saying to them all along is that the legislative process is really hard."

Christie — who earlier this year repeatedly described Trump as "ill-served" by his advisers — wouldn't comment Monday on whether the President had the right team in place to navigate Washington politics. "It's a very personal thing for a government executive to have to decide," he said. "In the end, only the president knows that for sure."

He did, however, express an opinion about the job performance of a different group. "Meteorologists — I mean seriously," Christie said, again referring to snowfall forecasts that missed their mark earlier this month. "It's like a blindfolded guy throwing at a dartboard."