New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s office assailed MSNBC on Saturday for what it called a “gleeful assault” on the Republican in the wake of the George Washington Bridge traffic scandal, Elizabeth Titus and I report on the homepage:

The attack came after a Democratic New Jersey mayor leveled new claims of political payback on MSNBC’s “Up with Steve Kornacki,” accusing the Christie administration of withholding hurricane relief funds in a dispute over the pace of a redevelopment project in her city.

Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak denied those allegations in an initial statement to the network. Another spokesman for Christie — a prospective 2016 presidential candidate — followed up with a lengthy statement pushing back against both MSNBC and the mayor, Hoboken’s Dawn Zimmer.

“MSNBC is a partisan network that has been openly hostile to Governor Christie and almost gleeful in their efforts attacking him, even taking the unprecedented step of producing and airing a nearly three-minute attack ad against him this week,” said the spokesman, Colin Reed, in a statement, referring to a spot aired by host Lawrence O’Donnell last week.

“The Governor and Mayor Zimmer have had a productive relationship, with Mayor Zimmer even recently saying she’s ‘very glad’ he’s been our Governor,” Reed said. “It’s very clear partisan politics are at play here as Democratic mayors with a political axe to grind come out of the woodwork and try to get their faces on television.”