Chris Christie Questions Trump's Georgia Indictment: 'Unnecessary'

Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie on Tuesday questioned Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis' decision to indict former President Donald Trump for his alleged attempts to thwart the 2020 presidential election results in Georgia.

Trump is facing 13 new charges after a Fulton County grand jury indicted him in connection with Willis' probe into his actions surrounding the election on Monday. The charges include violating Georgia's RICO law, solicitation of violation of oath by a public officer, conspiracy to impersonate a public officer, conspiracy to commit forgery in the first degree, false statements and writings, and filing false documents.

Willis' probe initially focused on Trump's telephone call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger, whom he allegedly asked to "find" enough votes to tilt the election in his favor, but it was later expanded to include alleged efforts to submit a false slate of pro-Trump electors to the Electoral College. Trump has maintained his innocence, saying Willis has targeted him for political purposes.

Christie, who is running for president, described the latest indictment as "unnecessary" during an interview with Fox News on Tuesday morning.

He explained that local prosecutors would typically defer to the Department of Justice (DOJ) when their investigations overlap, questioning why Georgia prosecutors did not do so in this case, given that Trump was indicted federally this month regarding Special Counsel Jack Smith's probe into the January 6, 2021, Capitol riot.

"I think that this conflict is essentially covered by the federal indictment, not with the level of detail that they covered in this, but that's just a stylistic thing," he said. "Election interference is election interference. It's been charged by Jack Smith, and most of the time what you'd see here would be a state court deferring to a federal prosecution. Especially if that federal indictment had already been issued. So I think this was unnecessary, as to Donald Trump."

His tone regarding to Trump's latest indictment is notably different from his stance on the DOJ indictments. Christie has cast himself as a leading Trump critic in the Republican primary and has been critical of Trump's actions surrounding the 2020 presidential election.

"What we see from Donald Trump is what we always see about Donald Trump," he told CNN after Trump was indicted for his alleged role in the Jan. 6 riot. "Insulting anybody who raises any questions about his conduct on January 6, when he invited people to come to Washington and told them it was going to be wild. Spoke before them. Told them the election had been stolen, which was a lie he continued from election night forward."

While Christie maintained that he was uncomfortable with the latest indictment, he disputed the idea that it was politically motivated.

"Don't forget that these prosecutors all have egos, and she's been investigating this thing for two, two-and-a-half years," he said. "Jack Smith comes in within the last year. He swoops in. He charges quickly. She says, 'Woah wait a second. I've been looking at this.' What this indicates is there's not cooperation between her office and the special counsel's office.

"I'm sure he wanted her to defer. She chose not to. What I'd say to the viewers is don't necessarily view this as a partisan decision. This is probably an ego decision, where she said, 'Well, hell, I put all this time and effort into this investigation, and I want something out of it.'"

Newsweek reached out to a Christie campaign adviser and the Fulton County District Attorney's Office via email for comment.