Chris Christie Calls Trump's Legal Team a 'National Embarrassment' amid Election Lawsuits
Shawn Thew-Pool/Getty Chris Christie (center) sits between White House senior adviser Jared Kushner (left) and President Donald Trump (right) in 2017.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is calling for President Donald Trump to end the election lawsuits and concede to President-elect Joe Biden.
On Sunday, Christie, 58, joined George Stephanopoulos on ABC's This Week and said Trump has failed to provide any evidence of fraud and called the president's legal team a "national embarrassment."
"If you have got the evidence of fraud, present it," Christie said. "Quite frankly, the conduct of the President's legal team has been a national embarrassment."
"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, later adding "you have an obligation to present the evidence, the evidence has not been presented."
“Yes,” Chris Christie tells @GStephanopoulos when asked if it’s time for President Trump to stop challenging the 2020 election results, adding that the president’s legal team has been a “national embarrassment.” https://t.co/9HKDetYpa5 pic.twitter.com/zuGivUyqYo
— This Week (@ThisWeekABC) November 22, 2020
The Republican politician continued, "Listen, I’ve been a supporter of the president, I voted for him twice but elections have consequences and we cannot continue to act as if something happened here that didn’t happen... If you are unwilling to come forward and present the evidence, it must mean the evidence doesn't exist."
"The country is what has to matter the most," Christie said. "As much as I'm a strong Republican and I love my party, it's the country that has to come first."
During this appearance, Christie also mentioned that more and more leaders within the Republican party were coming to a similar conclusion. However, Maryland's Republican Gov. Larry Hogan told CNN that it is not enough.
Heidi Gutman/Walt Disney Television/Getty; SAUL LOEB/AFP/Getty (L-R) Chris Christie, Donald Trump
Speaking on State of the Union, Hogan said he "embarrassed that more people in the party aren't speaking up."
"We used to go supervise elections around the world, and we were the most respected country with respect to elections. And now we're beginning to look like we're a banana republic. It's time for them to stop the nonsense," he said.
Since losing to Democratic nominee Biden, 78, earlier this month, the president, 74, has refused to concede defeat.
Instead, Trump has argued that the election was "stolen" from him, alleging (without proof) that there was widespread fraud, while his campaign has launched dozens of lawsuits across the country contesting the results.
According to CNBC, Trump and his team have already lost or withdrawn more than 30 of those complaints.
