PEMBROKE PARK, Fla. – Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, who is seeking the Republican nomination to run for president in 2024, sat for a one-and-one interview on Friday with This Week In South Florida’s host Glenna Milberg after participating in a town hall in Miami-Dade County.
Christie, 60, who endorsed former President Donald Trump in 2016, said former President Barack Obama’s policy failed, and if elected he said he is not going to condone Cuba’s alliance with Russia, as he believes “in a free and a liberated Cuba.”
Christie also said he was eager to join The Republican National Committee’s first presidential primary candidates’ debate on Wednesday in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which Trump, the front-runner, announced he will not be attending.
Christie criticized a recent memo from a super PAC in support of Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis as nonsensical. The memo was about DeSantis’s talking points for the debate including a defense onstage of Trump, who is facing criminal charges in four indictments.
“I think that is kind of silly to be running against Donald Trump and your strategy is to defend him in his absence,” Christie said. “It sounds to me like you are more interested in being his vice president or being in his cabinet.”
Christie said DeSantis’s immigration program to transport migrants from the U.S.-Mexico border to sanctuary areas wasn’t fair.
“I don’t think we should treat people as political pawns,” Christie said.
MORE ON TWISF: Watch the Aug. 20, 2023 episode