For an early endorser, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie seems to have taken a surprising amount of abuse for Republican nominee Donald Trump. In March. Trump insulted Christie while Christie was present at a rally in Ohio, and in February, Trump ordered Christie to “go home” and “get on the plane” when Christie wanted to chat with the real estate mogul following a speech.
Now, it seems, more details of the newly minted besties’ relationship have come to light. On Thursday, Trump will headline two fundraisers, ostensibly his payback for Christie’s support. One is to help pay off debt from Christie’s presidential campaign, but the other is to help pay off debt fromChristie’s notorious scandal “BridgeGate.”
According to local a Fox affiliate, Trump will attend a $25,000-per-plate fundraiser Thursday afternoon, with “15 to 20” big-name donors. Proceeds will go to help the New Jersey GOP pay off the debt it incurred responding to subpoenas related to legal allegations that Christie shut down an important transit route to punish a political enemy. Proceeds won’t, reportedly, go to paying off the $10 million the state of New Jersey paid in legal bills related to the scandal.
At a rally earlier this year, Trump accused Christie of having first hand knowledge of what his staff was doing when they closed down the George Washington bridge, allegedly to punish the Democratic mayor of Fort Lee. “He knew about it, they were with him all the time, the people that did it. They never said, ‘Boss, we are closing up the George Washington bridge tonight?’ No, they never said that. They are talking about the weather.” Christie denied Trump’s allegations.
Trump wouldn’t say this week whether Christie had changed his mind on BridgeGate, leading him to help New Jersey Republicans pay off their debt.
The U.S. Attorney indicted two Christie aides, Bill Baroni and Bridget Anne Kelly, on charges of conspiracy and fraud in connection with BridgeGate. Both trials are tentatively scheduled for September of 2016. Separately, the U.S. Senate has opened an inquiry into the bridge closure. Christie lambasted both as Democratic witch hunts.
Both the Christie and Trump camps called the debt help simply a nice gesture that grew out of a long and warm friendship between the two that goes back decades. The camps also wouldn’t say whether the “nice gesture” would cover putting in a good word with Trump’s sister, Maryanne Trump Barry, who sits on the US Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit, and could hear a BridgeGate-related case very soon.
