“Governor Christie is an extremely knowledgeable and loyal person with the tools and resources to put together an unparalleled Transition Team," presumptive Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump said Monday. | AP Photo Trump enlists Christie to head White House transition team

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie will serve as the chairman of Donald Trump's transition team should he win the presidency, the presumptive Republican nominee's campaign announced Monday.

“Governor Christie is an extremely knowledgeable and loyal person with the tools and resources to put together an unparalleled Transition Team, one that will be prepared to take over the White House when we win in November. I am grateful to Governor Christie for his contributions to this movement," Trump said in a statement.


The campaign said the transition team is just one of the steps Trump's operation is taking "to gear up for the general election against potential Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton, or whoever."

Christie, a former primary rival who endorsed Trump in February, said, “I am honored by the confidence being placed in me by Mr. Trump and look forward to putting together a first rate team to assemble an administration to help best serve the President-elect and the nation.”

The announcement comes after The New York Times reported last Friday that Trump had asked son-in-law Jared Kushner to begin assembling plans for a team that would ensure a smooth transition to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue in the event he is elected the 45th president. The Times reported that Kushner will work directly with senior adviser Paul Manafort and campaign manager Corey Lewandowski.

Kushner's involvement could pose some serious awkwardness. As U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey, Christie prosecuted Kushner's father, Charles, who was sentenced to two years in federal prison in 2005 after reaching a plea agreement on charges of tax evasion, witness tampering and making illegal campaign donations.

Trump's pivot toward the general election comes after the Republican candidate sewed up the party's nomination with a rout in Indiana last Tuesday, knocking out both Ted Cruz and John Kasich. With his status as a presumptive nominee, Trump is likely to soon receive classified intelligence briefings on matters of national security.

For its part, the White House has expressed confidence that the intelligence community, led by Director of National Intelligence James Clapper, will exercise prudence in sharing information with presidential nominees.

Asked whether President Barack Obama could use his discretion to deny sharing, press secretary Josh Earnest declined to get into specifics.

"I’m not sure of the specifics of the law. What I can say is that the Director of National Intelligence has indicated that he’s prepared to move forward at an appropriate time, probably after the convention, with giving intelligence briefings to the two major party nominees," Earnest said Friday. "And Director Clapper has assigned that responsibility to one of the career intelligence professionals in his office, and the President has confidence in those professionals and their ability to determine how and when those briefings should take place."

Christie's move is likely to generate criticism in Christie's native New Jersey, where just 26 percent of the state's registered voters said they have a favorable opinion of their governor in a Rutgers-Eagleton poll released in late April.

Christie's surrogacy of Trump has been ripe for mocking, with the governor himself firing back at memes joking that he appeared to look like the Manhattan businessman's hostage at an event on Super Tuesday.

“No, I wasn’t being held hostage. No, I wasn’t sitting up there thinking, ‘Oh my God, what have I done?’” Christie told reporters on March 3. “I was sitting up there — standing up there — supporting the person who I believe is the best person to beat Hillary Clinton, of the remaining Republican candidates, and it’s why I endorsed him. I understand everybody had a lot of fun with it. It doesn’t matter to me.”

In its release, Trump's team directed all press inquiries to Christie's communications director rather than the presumptive nominee's campaign itself.