Former New Jersey governor and Donald Trump campaigner Chris Christie criticized the president’s “press staff” Sunday for setting up an interview where Trump went after House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) in front of D-Day grave markers.
Trump was in Normandy last week to mark the 75th anniversary of the D-Day landings. But he seized the opportunity during the Fox News interview to transform the moment into a name-calling political brawl that had nothing to do with the deceased military heroes.
Christie said on ABC’s “This Week” that Trump’s “press staff served him poorly” by setting up the interview “at that site.” He also criticized staff for arranging the president’s sit-down with Piers Morgan. Neither, he conceded, presented Trump in the best light.
“That does not serve the president well, when you give him that long a period of time to do those kinds of things,” Christie noted.
“The staff’s job is to not put the principal in a situation where you put him at greater risk of harm than greater risk of benefit,” Christie continued. “I’d argue that when Sarah Sanders, whoever made those decisions to put him in those positions, put him there, they ill-served him.”
Christie, however, refused to directly criticize Trump’s behavior during his trip abroad. He also refused to recognize Trump lashing Pelosi in front of World War II graves as the “big takeaway shot.” He said that Pelosi’s reported comments that she would rather see Trump in prison than impeached “earned” the president’s anger.
As for the rest of the trip, Christie called it a “win.” Trump and Queen Elizabeth “seemed to get along really well,” he said. Not so much, though, with London Mayor Sadiq Khan, “This Week” host George Stephanopoulos noted.
Listen to Christie’s perspective in the video up top. He talks about Trump’s trip at the 29:00 mark.
