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Christie: I wouldn't let Flynn 'in the White House'

“This election is not going to be on my back,” Christie, a Republican serving in the last year of his second term, said at his final Statehouse news conference Monday.

TRENTON — Gov. Christie on Monday said that if he were president, he wouldn't let Michael Flynn "in the White House, let alone give him a job."

Flynn, Christie allowed, could "go on a tour" like the rest of the public.

The governor's remarks came as lawyers for Flynn, President Trump's embattled former national security adviser, told the Senate Intelligence Committee that he would not comply with a subpoena requesting documents related to Russia's interference in last year's election.

Also Monday, the top Democrat on a key House committee released a letter showing that Flynn misled Pentagon investigators about his contacts with Russian government officials and payments from a Russian propaganda outlet.

Christie confirmed news reports that he had advised Trump not to hire Flynn as national security adviser, saying he and the former aide didn't "see eye to eye."

"I didn't think he was someone who would bring benefit to the president or to the administration. I made that very clear to candidate Trump, and I made it very clear to President-elect Trump," Christie, a Republican serving in the last year of his second term, said at what will be his final news conference in the Statehouse.

On Friday, Christie is moving down the street to a new office in Trenton to accommodate a controversial $300 million renovation of the Statehouse.

Trump fired Flynn just weeks after taking office, and the former adviser is said to be under federal investigation regarding undisclosed business ties to Russia and Turkey. Christie declined to elaborate on his reservations about Flynn, citing classified information.

Christie also said he disagreed with Trump's reported characterization of former FBI Director James Comey as a "nut job." Trump told Russian officials that before he fired Comey, he "faced great pressure because of Russia," according to the New York Times.

The remark has been interpreted as suggesting that the president fired Comey because of the FBI's investigation into Russia's interference in last year's election and possible collusion with the Trump campaign.

Christie, who was U.S. attorney when Comey was deputy attorney general under President George W. Bush, said it was premature to jump to that conclusion, because it wasn't clear "what pressure [Trump] was discussing."

Addressing New Jersey issues, Christie presented a forceful defense of his administration's policies, even as he declared November's gubernatorial election would not be a referendum on him.

"This election is not going to be on my back," he said.

"People will talk a lot about me because I've been here for 16 years," Christie said, referring to his two terms as governor and previous job as U.S. attorney for New Jersey. "But the fact is that in the end ... the public makes up their mind based on the two people who are in front of them, not the person who's in the rearview mirror."

Christie, surrounded by schoolchildren here for a tour, offered reporters a "history lesson" as he pointed to the official portraits of governors hanging in his outer office and made the case that he shouldn't — and won't — get blame or credit for the outcome of November's general election.

"Fact is, no matter where the governor has stood, when a governor is leaving office, it is almost invariable that the next governor, you know, is of the opposite party," he said.

Polls show Christie's approval rating is around 20 percent, a historically low figure. The leading Republican contenders, Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno and Assemblyman Jack Ciattarelli, have said they would lead New Jersey in a new direction.

The Democratic candidates — Phil Murphy, a former Wall Street executive and ambassador to Germany, former U.S. Treasury official Jim Johnson, Assemblyman John S. Wisniewski, and State Sen. Raymond J. Lesniak — have used Christie and Trump as foils for how they would govern the Garden State.

The primaries are June 6.

Christie on Monday held forth with reporters for more than an hour, taking credit for the state's improved economic outlook, musing about the governor's race, and diving into national politics. ("I'm trying to encourage him not to tweet," he said, perhaps in jest, of Trump.)

In addition to highlighting the state's economy, the governor defended his administration's swift approval on May 11 of financing for the Statehouse renovation.

The state Economic Development Authority approved the financing and immediately sold $300 million in bonds, to the chagrin of some lawmakers, who have sued to block the project and called for more transparency.

"That's efficient government, baby," Christie said.

A judge set a hearing for oral arguments next month over the lawsuit. There hasn't been a comprehensive renovation of the executive portion of the Statehouse in 60 years, Christie says.

Christie chalked up opposition to the renovation to the campaign season and pointedly said that Guadagno hadn't asked for a briefing about the scope or nature of the project, even though she opposes it.

"And it was my decision to go ahead with the bond issue on that day," Christie said, though the EDA describes itself as an independent state agency. "Get it done. Is it ready? Why are we waiting, then?"

The governor continued to play his self-assigned role as an umpire calling "balls and strikes" during the campaign.

Guadagno, he said, deserves credit for helping his administration create 325,000 private-sector jobs since 2010.

Ciattarelli has attacked the administration's record and said: "We need to move beyond the Christie-Guadagno era."

"For Jack to downplay the lieutenant governor's role in this economic success is wrong. I'd say that's a foul ball on Jack's part," Christie said.

The governor said he would stay neutral in the Republican primary but endorse the GOP nominee in the general election.

He also said he would campaign with the Republican nominee if he's invited to do so. But he said he'd be content sitting on the sidelines as well in his last months as governor.

"Working hard, baby," Christie said when asked about his job leading a White House commission on opioid abuse. "Working hard. Working weekends, working nights, weekends, the whole thing."