How Chris Christie and Donald Trump’s friendship blossomed, then soured

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Their friendship began after an introduction through Donald Trump’s sister. It ended nearly 20 years later, when Trump refused to concede the 2020 election to Joe Biden.

In between, Chris Christie, the former governor of New Jersey, and Trump have had a relationship that can get really heated, with chats about politics and current events, and at other times transaction.

Christie gave Trump a boost by endorsing his candidacy in 2016 after ending his own bid for the Republican nomination, and then coached him for debates and led his initial presidential transition team. In return, Trump passed him over for the roles of vice president and attorney general.

Trump eventually turned to Christie for other advice during his term. But halfway through the presidency, Christie seems content on the outside.

Their last exchange was in August 2021, according to a person briefed on the matter, when the former president had an aide send Christie a test message.

Now, they have entered a new chapter: open hostility. Christie announced his second presidential campaign Tuesday in New Hampshire, aiming to prevent Trump from a second term in the White House.

I think he’s a coward and I think he’s a puppet of Putin, Christie, speaking recently to conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt, said of the man she once supported.

Here’s a look back at how their relationship grew, blossomed and then withered.

Christie was a US attorney in New Jersey, where Trump still has casinos, when the two men first dined together.

The May 2002 dinner introduction came through an intermediary, Maryanne Trump Barry, Trump’s older sister, who was a federal judge in the state at the time and described Trump to Christie as my little brother. In Christies 2019 memoir, Let Me Finish, he wrote about his first impressions of Trump, who in two years will begin his run as the star of the reality TV show The Apprentice.

Donald has an opinion, Christie wrote. He’s bombastic. He is entertaining. He spoke about his business with infectious enthusiasm and great detail. I came away with the impression that the public Donald and the private Donald are pretty much one and the same.

It soon became clear that Christie could end up as a candidate for governor one day. He won the office on his first attempt, in 2009, two years before Trump considered running for the White House against President Barack Obama.

The two men knew each other the way celebrities in the New York media market tend to: casually, with paths crossing from time to time.

In 2015, both Christie and Trump declared presidential candidacies.

Christie, already marred by the Bridgegate political vendetta scandal, nevertheless built a national political brand as a straight-talking candidate.

Conversely, some viewed Trump as a sideshow who would eventually fade away, even though he was leading the polls. At the time, Trump told Christie privately that he did not expect his campaign to last beyond October 2015.

Their relationship begins to be tested. Two months after Trump entered the race, Christie told Fox News that the New York businessman did not have the temperament or experience to be president. Trump mocked Christie for his absence from New Jersey, where he is still governor.

In the end, Trump overwhelmed his newfound rival and all other rivals with an endless stream of inflammatory statements, including a proposal to ban Muslims from entering the country.

Trump saved his most hostile barbs for candidates other than Christie. In turn, the governor trained his most aggressive shot at Sen. Florida’s Marco Rubio during a debate in New Hampshire shortly before the state’s primary, mocking him for a memorized 25-second speech.

But after sealing his candidacy in New Hampshire, Christie finished a dismal sixth and dropped out of the race.

When Trump won the South Carolina primary, Christie told allies that the writing was on the wall that Trump was clearly on track to become the nominee.

I am proud to be here to endorse Donald Trump for president of the United States, Christie said at an endorsement event in Florida in February 2016, as stunned reporters watched as he applauded Trump’s candidacy. After Sen. Jeff Sessions of Alabama, Christie was one of the first prominent Republicans to endorse Trump at a time when the party’s leadership was still trying to prevent his ascension.

Soon after, Christie became a key adviser to Trump. He was also considered for some time as a potential running mate, but some of Trumps advisers, including members of his family, argued against it. (Christie also prosecuted the father of Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, years ago, and Kushner opposed the selection of Christie.)

Trump ultimately chose Mike Pence, then the governor of Indiana, who was introduced to Trump by Christie.

Trump tried to keep Christie on the hook, the former governor wrote in his memoir, insisting in a phone call to Christie that he hadn’t decided on his running mate, even as he made plans to fly Pence to New York for a news conference.

Christie led Trump’s preparations for the general election debates against Hillary Clinton, the Democratic nominee. But after the October 2016 release of a recording in which Trump described touching women by their private parts, Trump privately complained that Christie did not more vocally support him.

Christie also served as head of his transition team, a job from which he was fired after Kushner’s Election Day; Steve Bannon, the chief strategist for Trump; and Reince Priebus, who will be Trump’s first White House chief of staff.

Trump asked Christie to lead a task force on opioids, an issue Christie was concerned about as governor. Trump’s wife, Melania, is also said to be Christie’s personal favorite.

But Trump decided not to give him the attorney general job, which went to Sessions. Instead, Christie said, the president offered him various roles at various points, including labor secretary and secretary of the Homeland Security Department.

Trump also took a suggestion from Christie on who could replace the fired FBI director, James Comey. Christies’ lawyer during the Bridgegate scandal, Christopher Wray, was appointed and remains at the helm of the agency. Trump soon began complaining that Wray wasn’t doing what he wanted at the agency, and blamed Christie for a nomination that Trump had put forward.

Christie is considering himself to succeed John F. Kelly as Trump’s chief of staff at the end of 2018 after Trump offered the job to Christie. By then, it had become clear that Trump was cycling through staff members and firing them at a rapid clip.

In February 2020, Trump pardoned a former software chief executive that Christie had lobbied for.

That year, Christie wrote Trump a lengthy memo instructing him on how to handle the coronavirus pandemic. It was ignored.

Trump once again brought in Christie for debate preparation, and some of his aides blamed Christie when Trump’s first debate against Biden went awry. (Trump appeared physically unwell at the debate and may have already been affected by the coronavirus; news of his COVID diagnosis came days later.)

When both Trump and Christie were hospitalized with severe attacks of COVID shortly after that debate, Trump called his debate coach at the hospital. Will you say you got it from me? Trump asked Christie, the former governor recounted in his second book, Republican Rescue. They both recovered, but Christie made it clear that he thought he should have worn a mask during the preparation sessions, angering Trump.

Hours after Election Day, when Trump delivered a speech claiming massive fraud, Christie, then a contributor for ABC News, said on air that Trump needed to offer proof.

In an interview with The New York Times in November 2022, Christie said he last spoke to Trump in December 2020, after the president saw Trumps legal team mocking him on television. Christie told him that he should accept the election of Biden and host the president-elect in the White House.

He told me he would never, ever, ever, do that, Christie said. And that was the last conversation we had.

In 2021, Trump described Christie as an opportunist to a reporter. Four months later, he had an aide send Christie a printout of Christie’s tweet related to the pardon he requested for the former software executive. Chris, he wrote, according to the person who spoke it, How quickly people forget (some) – Best Wishes, with his signature.

Christie responded warmly, wishing Trump well.

c.2023 The New York Times Company

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