CNN town hall with Chris Christie

Chris Christie pointed to law enforcement and mental health as being central problems to the issue of gun violence, adding that he would not support a ban on assault weapons.

Answering a question from CNN's Anderson Cooper about if there was anything new Christie would do to help curb gun violence if he was president, the former New Jersey governor said that he largely believes states should handle putting measures in place.

Cooper noted this was a shift from his stance when he was running for a New Jersey state Senate seat more than 30 years ago.

Cooper pointed out that Christie said he got into that race because Republicans were trying to get rid of an assault weapons ban — something Christie wanted to keep in place. He now says he does not believe there should be a ban on assault weapons.

Christie said it’s a right for people to own guns, including assault weapons. He said he doesn’t own one “but that’s been my choice."

When Joe Robbins, a Nevada retiree who lost his son in a mass shooting, asked Christie how he would protect people from mass shootings while still protecting the Second Amendment, Christie reiterated his call for a focus on mental health.

“I don't think with 350 million or so guns out there that tighter gun control is going to keep the gun out of the hands of someone who's going to do what happened in Las Vegas or what happened in Uvalde or what happened in Sandy Hook," he said.

Christie said law enforcement needs to be “much more sensitive” to what they are seeing in the community and be able to identify when people are having mental health problems.

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said Monday he was told off the record by two reporters in 2020 that then-President Donald Trump blamed him for spreading Covid-19 during debate prep.

What appalled Christie about this revelation was that while he was in intensive care, Trump called Christie to ask if he was going to tell the world he contracted Covid from the president.

Trump, who also contracted Covid in the fall of 2020, was released from the hospital before Christie, the GOP presidential contender said, and went back on the campaign trail where two reporters heard him blaming Christie for contracting Covid.

"He called me to make sure that I would not blame him, and when I said I wouldn't because I had no basis to say who it was, he then blamed me," Christie said.

Responding to those in the Republican Party who still insist the 2020 presidential election was stolen, Chris Christie responded Monday night: "Just show me the evidence." 

Christie said that had there been any evidence of election rigging in 2020 he would have been happy to support Trump "all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court and beyond" adding, "But there's no evidence."

Christie called Trump's lies that the 2020 election was stolen "the most destructive thing he's done." 

His relationship with Trump ended after he stood in front of "the Seal of the President in the East Room of the White House at 2:30 in the morning on election morning and said the election was stolen," Christie said.

Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie denied his involvement in the 2013 "Bridgegate" scandal, which involved political appointees under his watch as New Jersey governor.

Asked by Republican voter Jason Ortiz about Christie's direct and indirect involvement in the scandal, Christie responded, "I had absolutely nothing to do with it, no knowledge of it. I was appalled by it. And I had nothing to do with it."

Christie went on to say that despite his lack of involvement, he does regret that it happened under his governorship.

"I regret what happened, and I feel — I am accountable for it because it happened on my watch. But it'll never happen with me I can guarantee that," he said.

More background: Christie was first elected New Jersey governor in 2009, unseating Democratic incumbent Jon Corzine. He easily won reelection in the blue state in 2013. He served as US attorney for New Jersey from 2002 to 2008, a period in which he successfully prosecuted the father of Trump’s son-in-law and former aide Jared Kushner on criminal tax evasion and witness tampering charges. 

Christie was engulfed in the “Bridgegate” scandal during his second term as governor. Emails and texts from top aides showed that the George Washington Bridge lane closures in September 2013, which caused massive traffic jams, stemmed from a political vendetta after the town’s Democratic mayor declined to endorse Christie’s gubernatorial reelection. A federal investigation determined that Christie had no knowledge of the decision to close the lanes, but the scandal continued to follow the former governor. 

CNN's Gregory Krieg and Shania Shelton contributed reporting to this post. 

GOP presidential candidate Chris Christie said he wants US citizens to know he's not ageist. Instead, he says he is a realist when it comes to considering the future of the country if either of the two front-runners — Joe Biden and Donald Trump — is elected president.

Christie said he disagreed with Biden on a philosophical level and if Trump was elected, he would play the victim and be even angrier than he was in his previous administration.

On the topic of US aid to Ukraine, CNN's Anderson Cooper noted GOP presidential candidate Chris Christie had previously said that he agreed with supporting Kyiv until they are ready to resolve the conflict.

He then noted that Christie's comments are not exactly in line with what Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky has asked for. The Ukrainian president has said he wants to take back all territory from Russia, including Crimea.

"I didn't say that, I said until it was resolved. If I were President Zelenskyy, I would want everything too," Christie said during CNN's town hall.

"But there's going to come a point, I hope, that if Ukraine is aggressive enough and we are giving them the arms and support that they need, that both Ukraine and Russia are going to understand that it's time to end the killing and that there may have to be some kind of compromise," Christie added.

Cooper noted that the US has provided $37 billion in military aid to Ukraine since the start of the war.

Chris Christie said he and other Republicans in the "establishment lane" made the mistake of fighting among each other instead of directly taking on Donald Trump during the 2016 presidential campaign.

The former New Jersey governor, who subsequently helped Trump prepare for his debates in 2020, said that the only thing the former president understands is force.

Asked what would be different this time on the debate stage with Trump, Christie said he's not afraid to make the arguments that Trump has been a "loser" since he was elected, referring to the Republican Party's loss of the White House and loss of seats in the House and Senate since 2016.

Christie also criticized other Republican presidential candidates who he said won't even name Trump when they're asked about him.

Chris Christie said that his tenure as a Republican governor in the blue state of New Jersey sets him apart from other Republican contenders in the presidential race.

Christie added that he believes that one of the biggest frustrations Americans have is that "Washington gets nothing done."

He went on to say that, unlike GOP governors from red states, he was able to pass legislation by working with Democrats.

"You need a strong leader who can go in there and knows how to do this. And with all due respect to these governors from red states who have Republican legislatures, man I'm telling you I would have given my right arm to have a Republican legislature for a week," he said.

He then touted his experience as someone who can work across the aisle to accomplish things for the American people.

Some background: Christie was first elected New Jersey governor in 2009, unseating Democratic incumbent Jon Corzine. He easily won reelection in the blue state in 2013. He served as US attorney for New Jersey from 2002 to 2008, a period in which he successfully prosecuted the father of Trump’s son-in-law and former aide Jared Kushner on criminal tax evasion and witness tampering charges.

Christie himself was engulfed in the “Bridgegate” scandal during his second term as governor. Emails and texts from top aides showed that the George Washington Bridge lane closures in September 2013, which caused massive traffic jams, stemmed from a political vendetta after the town’s Democratic mayor declined to endorse Christie’s gubernatorial reelection. A federal investigation determined that Christie had no knowledge of the decision to close the lanes, but the scandal continued to follow the former governor.

At the end of his tenure, Christie was highly unpopular in his home state, recording the lowest approval rating for any governor in more than 20 years among states surveyed by the Quinnipiac University Poll.

CNN's Gregory Krieg and Shania Shelton contributed reporting to this post.

GOP presidential candidate Chris Christie said Monday that if elected president, he would keep Christopher Wray as FBI director

“If he wanted to stay, I would keep him,” Christie said in CNN's town hall, adding he'd appoint an attorney general who Wray would know he'd have to report to and would hold Wray to the same standards he would hold the US Justice Department.

Christie's statement puts him in direct contrast with Ron DeSantis who said he would fire Wray on his first day as president.