Republican 2024 presidential candidate Chris Christie doubled down on his support for FBI Director Christopher Wray on Sunday and said that if elected president, Wray would serve in his administration.
During an interview with Fox News host Shannon Bream, Christie was asked how he felt about Wray since most of his GOP opponents running in the 2024 primary have pledged to fire the FBI director if elected, as reported by the Daily Caller.
“Well, look, all those problems happened, Shannon, under the Jim Comey era,” Christie said while referencing the now-debunked Durham report. “And Christopher Wray has come in and fired every person that was in the Comey leadership team in the FBI. These whistleblowers have come out because the atmosphere has allowed it to happen now, not during the Comey era.”
Christie added that he would not fire Wray if elected president.
“The fact is that these other folks in the race, they just are looking for a scapegoat,” Christie added. “They want to blame anybody. I will tell them who to blame. Blame Joe Biden and Merrick Garland, who have not provided the type of leadership in the country or at the Justice Department that you need.”
Christie’s remarks are unsurprising considering that the former New Jersey governor recommended Wray to former President Donald Trump, as stated in Christie’s memoir, “Republican Rescue.”
Christie wrote in 2021 that Trump randomly touched on Wray’s job performance in his administration.
“Do you want to know who the worst member of my administration is?” Christie recalled Trump asking him in the book, according to Insider. “Your guy. Your guy Chris Wray. He’s the worst.”
Christie responded to Trump’s comments by defending Wray.
“He’s really not, Mr. President,” Christie replied. “In fact, he’s done a great job with the FBI. He’s reshaping it, reclaiming it. He’s fired all the people who were executing types in the Comey administration. Chris Wray is doing a great job for you.”
Christie wrote that he had urged Trump to hire Wray after the former president had fired former FBI Director James Comey in 2017.
Occasionally, people recommend individuals they know to others. In Christie’s case, such is true.
In December 2014, Wray served as Christie’s lawyer in the Bridgegate scandal, which was a political scandal involving Christie’s collusion to create traffic jams in Fort Lee, New Jersey, as retaliation against a Democratic mayor, according to the New York Post.
Wray’s representation of Christie cost New Jersey taxpayers a little over $2 million, as reported by Insider.
Wray’s FBI has faced heavy criticism over the bureau’s handling of the Hunter Biden investigation.
In June, the FBI reached a plea agreement with Hunter Biden in an income tax case. Part of the agreement included that Biden would not receive any jail time.
Prior to reaching the plea agreement with Biden, the FBI charged Trump on 37 federal charges relating to the former president’s possession of classified documents.
House Speaker Kevin McCarthy blasted the agency for its differences in investigating Trump and Biden.
“It continues to show the two-tier system in America,” McCarthy told reporters in June, according to The Hill. “If you are the president’s leading political opponent, the DOJ tries to literally put you in jail and give you prison time. But if you are the president’s son, you get a sweetheart deal.”
A FiveThirtyEight poll shows Chris Christie with a 3.1 percent chance of becoming the 2024 GOP nominee. Trump currently leads all declared candidates with 52 percent support.
via westernjournal