Former Republican presidential primary candidate Chris Christie balked at endorsing incumbent candidate Nikki Haley in an interview on ABC’s “Good Morning America” on Tuesday.
“Look, imagine what position I’d be in if I supported someone and they flipped out and supported Donald Trump,” Christie said. Said ABC’s George Stephanopoulos. “I’m never going to be put in that place again, George. I made the decision in 2016, and it was the first time in my political career, even with some trepidation, to This was the first time I supported someone for political reasons.
“And that’s when I supported Donald Trump,” Christie continued. “And that was the biggest mistake I made in my political career.”
Haley previously raised her hand during the first Republican debate in 2024 when asked if she would still vote for former President Trump even if he was a convicted felon. But as her nomination race progresses, with Trump and Haley now the only major candidates, she has become increasingly critical of her former boss.
The former South Carolina governor recently criticized President Trump for praising Chinese President Xi Jinping.
“It’s not normal to praise dictators. Please bring America back to normal again,” Haley wrote on Platform X, formerly known as Twitter, on Monday.
Her comments were in response to recent comments by the former president, who called Xi a “very good friend.”
“I became very good friends with him. I don’t know if he liked what I was doing,” Trump said.
In the same “Good Morning America” interview, Christie called last month’s hot mic comment that Hailey would “smoke” a “total mistake.”
“George, I’m telling you, this was completely wrong, but the process by which I discovered it is actually the most interesting part of this story,” Christie said. “I had my phone on vibrate, and the only person that would ring when I had it on vibrate was my son Andrew. And then the phone rang, and I picked it up and said, ‘Get ready to go. “I’m working on it,” and he said, “Hot Mike!” Hot mic! Hot mic! ”
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