Bob Jordan

@BobJordanAPP

Not only did Chris Christie and Donald Trump start their week enjoying a lunch of meat loaf together, but could they have also discussed best practices for confronting political scandals?

Trump's meandering press conference Thursday in many ways had the same look and feel of the press conference Christie held on Jan. 9, 2014, when the Bridgegate scandal broke.

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Here are signs that Trump is borrowing from the Christie scandal playbook:

1. Hold a marathon presser but don't really give straight answers.

Trump was on stage for 77 minutes Thursday — no match for Christie's 108-minute defend-and-deflect Bridgegate press conference, but long nonetheless.

Getting straight answers on either occasion was a challenge for reporters.

Trump at one point was asked, "Can you say definitively that nobody on your campaign had any contacts with the Russians during the campaign?” Trump avoided the question, according to MSNBC.

Then this exchange: "The first part of my question on contacts. Do you definitively say that nobody...''

Trump cut off the question.

"Well, I had nothing to do with it,'' he said.

Christie at the Bridgegate presser blamed everything on staffer Bridget Kelly, but testimony by Christie aides during last year's trials of Kelly and Bill Baroni indicated that Christie knew more people in his administration were involved in the George Washington Bridge lane closures — assertions Christie to this day denies. Christie loyalists Kelly, Baroni and David Wildstein are all awaiting sentencing after convictions for federal crimes in the scandal.

2. Blame the media and mock them

Trump on the Russia scandal:

"It's all fake news. It's all fake news. The nice thing is, I see it starting to turn, where people are now looking at the illegal — I think it's very important — the illegal, giving out classified information. It was — and let me just tell you, it was given out like so much.''

Christie in December 2013 when met with the first Bridgegate questions:

“I know you guys are obsessed with this. I’m not, I’m really not..It’s not that big a deal just because press runs around and writes about it both here and nationally. Let’s not pretend that it’s because of the gravity of the issue. It’s because I am a national figure and anything like this will be written about a lot now. So, let’s not pretend.”

3. Crack jokes during your scandal

Trump was apparently trying to be funny — but nobody was laughing — when April Ryan, an African-American journalist with the American Urban Radio Networks, asked if he'd meet with the Congressional Black Caucus:

"Well I would. Do you want to set up the meeting? Are they friends of yours? Set up the meeting!"

Christie when asked in December 2013 if he engineered the politically motivated bridge-lane closures:

“I worked the cones. Unbeknownst to anyone, I was working the cones. I was in overalls and a hat...you really are not serious with that question.''

4. The buck doesn't stop here

Trump on Thursday said those who don't like what's going on in Washington should blame predecessor Barack Obama:

"As you know, our administration inherited many problems across government and across the economy. To be honest, I inherited a mess. It's a mess. At home and abroad, a mess."

Christie in a Charlie Rose interview said convictions of three people in the federal Bridgegate investigation — all of whom were close Christie allies — prove he had no hand in the “stupid” scheme.

5. Ask a friend to investigate

Two Trump supporters, Rep. Jason Chaffetz, the chairman of the House Oversight Committee, and Rep. Bob Goodlatte, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, have asked the Inspector General to investigate leaks surrounding the ouster of former national security adviser Michael Flynn. They haven't expressed the same concerns over ties of Trump allies to Russia.

As for Christie, he commissioned a $10 million taxpayer-funded internal investigation of Bridgegate, giving the work to the law firm where close friend Debra Wong Yang is a partner.

(Yang was gifted a federal monitoring contract by then U.S. Attorney Christie in 2007 as part of his investigation into companies that made replacement hips and knees. She introduced Christie at a 2011 event as her “very dear friend’’ and “truly the real deal.”)

The Yang investigation found Christie blameless but was heavily criticized by Democrats as biased and incomplete because it didn't include interviews with several key figures in Christie's office.

Bob Jordan bjordan@gannettnj.com