Chris Christie Calls for Trump Concession, Calls Legal Team “National Embarrassment”

As President Trump continues to claim massive voter fraud in a hail-Mary effort to subvert the results of the election, few sitting Republican members of Congress have called on him to concede to President-Elect Joe Biden. But a handful of high-profile Republicans, both in Washington and beyond, have voiced their belief that Trump has no legal path to overturning the election results. Among those now calling for Trump to concede is former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, an on-and-off confidante of the President’s.

Prefacing that he had voted for Trump twice, Christie said on Sunday that “elections have consequences and we cannot continue to act as if something happened here that didn’t happen.” Appearing on This Week with George Stephanopoulos, Christie said that Trump and his legal team had failed to present any evidence that massive voter fraud illegitimately led to Trump’s defeat. He pointed in particular to the contradictions between what Trump and his advocates say to the media verses the arguments they have made in court.

“They allege fraud outside of the courtroom, but when they go inside the courtroom they don’t plead fraud and they don’t argue fraud,” Christie said. Adding, “you have an obligation to present the evidence, the evidence has not been presented.”

Bizarre P.R.

The Trump campaign and its national allies have now filed over thirty lawsuits in an attempt to challenge the results of the November 3^rd election. Almost all of them have been rejected or withdrawn. But, as is Trump’s way, he has not just waged war in courtrooms, but in the media as well. In recent days, Rudy Giuliani and Sidney Powell, two high-profile lawyers who personally represent Trump, have appeared on TV to propagate the President’s claims of fraud and election rigging.

These appearances, however, are more reminiscent of a Saturday Night Live sketch than an earnest political strategy. In an early instance, Trump alerted the media that Giuliani would be holding a press conference at The Four Seasons in Philadelphia. While it initially sounded like the briefing would be at the luxury hotel of that name, it actually took place at Four Seasons Total Landscaping, an industrial business on the outskirts of the city that’s sandwiched between a sex shop and a crematorium.

Then, a week later, Giuliani held another press conference to discuss a Pennsylvania lawsuit that a judge has since dismissed. During the hourlong event, which some cable stations aired live in its entirety, Giuliani’s face became covered in a brown, slimy liquid that dripped from his temples. The image of the former New York Mayor covered in his own melting hair dye has now become the subject of memes galore. Trump was, predictably, irked by the optics.

“National Embarrassment”

Then, on Saturday, campaign lawyer Sidney Powell appeared on Newsmax TV, a far-right cable news station. Powell unleashed a slew of unfounded conspiracy theories about voter fraud, even accusing Republican state leaders of playing a role. During the appearance, she accused Georgia Gov. Brian Kemp, a pro-Trump Republican, of paying election officials to alter his state’s results. (A hand recount has confirmed that Joe Biden indeed won the Georgia presidential election by a margin greater than 12,000 votes). Christie decried the appearance, and accused the Trump campaign of poor judgment for associating with Powell.

“Sidney Powell accusing Governor Brian Kemp of a crime on television yet being unwilling to go on TV and defend and lay out the evidence that she supposedly has” is “outrageous conduct,” said Christie. (As of Sunday night, the Trump campaign had publicly disavowed Powell, who they say is no longer on their legal team). Nevertheless, Christie says that Trump’s legal team and their bizarre TV antics are a “national embarrassment.”

Christie’s History with Trump

After running against Trump in the 2016 Republican primary, Christ Christie became one of his first former rivals to endorse him. Trump later vetted Christie to be his running-mate, before ultimately choosing Mike Pence. In the years to come, Christie continued to informally advise the president. He even oversaw his transition operations in 2016. But this fall, after helping to prep the president for his debate, Christie contracted COVID-19 amid a massive White House outbreak. Following a brief hospital stay, Christie told press that Trump had been too cavalier about the pandemic, and encouraged the president to embrace the use of facial masks to curb the spread.

Reprinted with permission from https://werax.com/chris-christie-calls-for-trump-concession-calls-legal-team-national-embarrassment/