DUSTIN RACIOPPI

@dracioppi

Governor Christie found himself on Tuesday morning again having to answer for Donald Trump’s campaign, defending the integrity of a convention night speech hours before he is set to deliver his own.

The headlines and cable television narrative following the opening night of the Republican National Convention focused heavily on the striking similarities between the Monday night speech delivered by Trump’s wife, Melania, and the 2008 convention speech by Michelle Obama. Multiple passages were identical, and what had initially been a well-regarded public debut for the candidate’s wife turned within hours into yet another damage-control effort in a campaign marked by persistent controversy.

Trump issued a statement early Tuesday morning praising his wife’s “beautiful speech” and saying that she had a team of writers who “took notes on her life’s inspirations, and in some instances included fragments that reflected her own thinking.” Hours later, campaign manager Paul Manafort was on CNN saying it was “crazy” to suggest Melania Trump plagiarized.

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But the similarities, aired over and over again on cable news Tuesday morning, were undeniable. And Christie acknowledged those commonalities. On the Today show, Christie said he didn’t believe Trump lifted lines because “93 percent of the speech” was “completely different” from Obama’s.

“A lot of what I heard last night, sitting on the floor, sounded very much like her and the way she speaks about Donald all the time,” Christie said. “Having been friends with them for 14 years that sounded like her to me last night. I think what’s most important is the American people gets a picture of how she feels about her husband and what their relationship is like, and I think they got a good view of that last night.”

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As one of Donald Trump’s biggest backers, Christie has been faced with defending the candidate or the campaign on a multitude of occasions, whether for racially charged remarks about a federal judge or controversial policy ideas. In this instance, Christie chalked up the intense reaction to what he called the typical “breathless” mood of convention opening nights.

“I think after tonight we won’t be talking about this, we’ll move on to whatever comes up tonight,” said Christie, who is scheduled to speak at 9:40 p.m. Tuesday.

Christie, whose 2012 convention speech was panned as a self-centered soliloquy, offered little insight into his upcoming remarks.

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“I’m going to make a case tonight that Donald Trump is ready to be President of the United States and that perhaps his opponent is not,” he said. “I’m still doing a little editing, so we’ll see where it goes.”