New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on CNN's 'New Day', does not appear to have much sympathy for Ben Carson after the retired neurosurgeon said that he is most scrutinized candidate in the Republican field. Christie on Carson scrutiny: 'I don’t have a whole lot of sympathy' Huckabee also chimed in Monday: "Pal, you ain't seen nothing yet."

Chris Christie does not appear to have much sympathy for Ben Carson after the retired neurosurgeon said he is the most scrutinized candidate in the GOP field, and the New Jersey governor is not the only Republican hopeful who feels that way.

In an interview with NBC News' Chris Jansing that aired on Sunday's "Meet the Press," Carson claimed that no other candidate in recent memory has experienced the level of media scrutiny he has felt during his campaign.


"You don't think that Bill Clinton or the president with his birth certificate, people who still refuse to believe —" Jansing asked the candidate outside John F. Kennedy International Airport. "No, not like this," Carson said, shaking his head. "Not even close."

Christie, appearing Monday on CNN's "New Day," pounced on the remarks, invoking the media wringer he went through during the George Washington Bridge scandal. The trial over the lane closures on the bridge in Fort Lee, New Jersey, is set to begin in April, after four delays. Bridget Kelly, a former deputy chief of staff to Christie, and Bill Baroni, a former deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, were indicted six months ago on nine charges of fraud, conspiracy and other counts.

“Is he kidding?" Christie asked CNN's Chris Cuomo, referring to Carson. "Did he watch what I went through in January of 2014 for months and months of relentless attacks from people in the media and in the partisan Democratic Party when it turned out that I did absolutely nothing wrong? I haven’t gotten a note of apology from anybody yet."

The governor added, "I’ve got the scars all over my back to prove that a lot of people jumped to conclusions.”

Carson has faced days of journalistic scrutiny over the content of his past anecdotes, including several stories about violent incidents in his youth and his claims he received an offer of a full scholarship to West Point. Carson admitted on Friday that he had never even applied to the military academy, though he said he received an "informal" offer; he went on to attack the news media in a fiery Friday evening news conference for their "completely unfair" coverage.

Christie was unimpressed with Carson's complaints.

"So I’ve got to tell you, a couple of days of being asked about something that you put in your books? I gotta tell you, I don’t have a whole lot of sympathy," the New Jersey governor went on to say. "He should answer the questions forthrightly and directly. If he does, the American people will accept it. If he doesn’t, then he’s got a problem.”

Carson and all other candidates should be responsible for their own personal stories, he said.

“He’s got to be able to do and say what all of us are responsible for in this business, which is to be responsible for his own personal story," he reiterated.

Later in the morning, another Republican rival had a message for Carson: "You ain't seen nothing yet."

Having written a dozen books himself, Mike Huckabee told MSNBC's "Morning Joe" that each one of them has faced "incredible scrutiny," something that candidates should expect when they run for elected office.

“I think the most surprising thing is — I’m not going to get into arguing what Ben did or didn’t do, but the one thing I heard him say ... I was kind of taken aback when he said that, you know, people are looking into his personal life, and they’re going after him," the former governor of Arkansas told Mika Brzezinski on Monday. "I’m thinking, pal, you ain’t seen nothing yet."

In his autobiography "Gifted Hands," Carson recounted a troubled youth in which he tried to attack his mother with a hammer and tried to stab a classmate only to have the knife blade break on the victim's belt buckle. After a CNN investigation failed to unearth any corroboration of these incidents, Carson revised his account, saying the near-stabbing was of a "close relative."

“But I will go on record today, and tell you this, Mika," Huckabee joked on Monday. "I never hit my mother with a hammer, and I never stabbed anybody. Never wrote about it either. So there you go, at least I’m out there, on the record for that."

The media have not come after Carson's kids or family, but rest assured, they will, Huckabee warned.

"This is part of the process. This ain’t beanbag, as we say. It is a brutal process, I’ve been through it for 26 years, and life ain’t fair," he added. "I’m telling you."