TRENTON, N.J. (AP) - Republican Gov. Chris Christie said Monday that a Cabinet meeting he held a day after meeting with GOP President-elect Donald Trump had been scheduled for weeks and people shouldn’t read too much into it, and he reiterated that he plans to serve out his term.
He also said his relationship with his lieutenant governor is “great” despite reports of their disagreements that came to light in the 2013 George Washington Bridge lane closure trial of two of his former allies.
Christie spoke on his regular radio call-in show on 101.5 FM on Monday, the day he held a Cabinet meeting that was closed to the public in Trenton. He criticized media reports that suggested there was more to the meeting than met the eye and singled out reporters’ focus on testimony at the Bridgegate trial, which recently ended in the convictions of two former members of his administration.
“It’s scary, particularly during the Bridgegate trial,” Christie said. “This Cabinet meeting has been on the books for four weeks. Four weeks ago I went to the chief of staff and counsel and said, ’Please schedule a Cabinet meeting for the Monday before Thanksgiving.’ … Yet I read asinine stories about how I had a private meeting with the lieutenant governor.”
Christie sketched few details of the meeting, saying cybersecurity and transportation in particular were discussed. Members of his Cabinet declined to stop to talk to reporters as they left the meeting.
Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, also a Republican, joined Christie at Monday’s meeting. Guadagno has increasingly disagreed with Christie publicly, first declining to back Trump for president and then opposing a transportation deal Christie brokered that raised the gas tax and cut the sales and estate taxes, among others.
Christie said he understands that she is considering a run for governor and that he has to give her the “freedom” to disagree publicly. He said before all their disagreements had been private.
“My relationship with the lieutenant governor is great,” he said. “Always has been.”
He then turned to testimony from the recently concluded bridge lane closure trial that painted his relationship with Guadagno as strained.
“These people who testified are convicted liars and felons,” he said.
Bridget Kelly, Christie’s former deputy chief of staff, and Bill Baroni, a Christie appointee to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, were convicted by a jury and are appealing. A third Christie ally, David Wildstein, pleaded guilty earlier and testified that Christie had “frozen out” Guadagno. Christie denies wrongdoing and wasn’t charged.
Christie and Trump huddled on Sunday for about 30 minutes at Trump’s golf club in Bedminster. The session was one of several Trump held there with prominent Republicans.
When asked whether Christie could get an administration job, Trump told reporters “he’s a very talented guy.” Trump later said the meeting was “very good,” and Christie said it was “great.”
Christie on Monday declined to say whether he was offered a position but reiterated what he said on Thursday: that he has “every reason to believe” he’ll serve out his term as governor, ending in 2018.
The meeting came after Christie was demoted from the Trump transition team’s chairman to vice chairman in favor of Vice President-elect Mike Pence and after much of his planning was scrapped.
Christie was among the earliest former presidential candidates to back Trump and was under consideration for the vice presidential slot before Trump tapped Pence, the governor of Indiana.
Christie has said he was sure the bridge scandal played some role in him losing out on the vice presidential slot.
The Cabinet meeting came just days after Christie seemed to publicly rebuke Guadagno, who opposed Christie on a transportation funding plan that included a gas tax hike and other tax cuts.
Speaking at a local government conference in Atlantic City, with Guadagno seated to his right, Christie criticized the plan’s opponents for playing politics. He didn’t mention the lieutenant governor by name.
Guadagno is considering her own run for governor, saying she will decide after the holidays. She would succeed Christie if he stepped down to accept a Trump administration position.
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