Trump fancied being Christie's vice president in 2012, book says

Donald Trump fancied the possibility of running as Chris Christie's vice presidential pick in 2012, according to a much-talked-about book on the Trump White House that detailed the New Jersey governor's fall from grace after what appeared to be a close relationship with the Manhattan billionaire.

And the book claims Trump even considered Christie as a replacement for Attorney General Jeff Sessions, reportedly saying that Christie would "perform kamikaze acts" for him.

Christie enjoyed access and influence in Trump's circles until shortly after the first-time candidate captured the ultimate political prize. Then, Trump's daughter Ivanka informed her father that appointing Christie to a key position would be "extremely difficult" for her family, according to the book by Michael Wolff, "Fire and Fury." Christie had prosecuted Ivanka Trump's father-in-law, Charles Kushner, in 2004 and 2005 over a scheme to illegally route campaign contributions through family members and blackmail his brother-in-law.



Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner were married in 2009, days before Christie was elected governor. Donald Trump had taken an interest in Christie's political career more than a decade earlier, according to Wolff, as Trump built a gambling empire in Atlantic City in the 1980s and 1990s. Trump admired Christie's "straight-talk style," the author wrote.

Trump continued to hold Christie in high esteem well into his presidency, but a concerted campaign by Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner shut the governor out of the White House, the book said.

Trump dumped Christie as chairman of his transition team a week after his election in November 2016. Christie later said Kushner played a role in his dismissal. The governor said his "vehemence" in opposing Michael Flynn as national security adviser turned Trump and his family against him, but Christie claimed a measure of vindication when Flynn pleaded guilty in December to lying to the FBI about his contacts with Russia's ambassador.

While Christie has remained mostly complimentary toward Trump, he told MSNBC in December that Special Counsel Robert Mueller's team is correct to investigate Kushner.

"He deserves the scrutiny," Christie said. "You know why? Because he was involved in the transition and involved in meetings that call into question his role."

Wolff's book was released this morning after a furious campaign by Trump -- who was portrayed in its pages as barely literate, emotionally volatile and uninterested in policy -- to stop its publication. Trump loyalists have disputed many of Wolff's anecdotes and characterizations, which the author says he gained in one-on-ones with many West Wing staffers and the president himself. Among the book's most explosive revelations was that chief strategist Steve Bannon had called a meeting between Trump's son Don Jr. and son-in-law Jared Kushner with Russian operatives "treasonous."

That revelation earlier this week set off a heated war of words between Trump and Bannon, who had remained friendly even after the strategist was pushed out of the White House.

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Christie makes more than 30 appearances in the book's pages, which chronicle a once-trusting relationship that fell apart because Jared Kushner and Ivanka Trump were uncomfortable with Christie's role in sending Kushner's father to 14 months in prison in 2005.

Trump only got into the 2016 race for president because he felt Christie had been weakened by the Bridgegate scandal, in which Christie's aides closed traffic lanes on the George Washington Bridge to punish the Fort Lee mayor for backing a political opponent, according to Wolff's telling.

When Christie dropped out of the presidential race after poor showings in the Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primaries and endorsed Trump, the governor did so with the understanding that Trump would give him a "clear track" to the vice presidential slot, the book said.

"It had personally pained Trump not to be able to give it to him," Wolff wrote. "But if the Republican establishment had not wanted Trump, they had not wanted Christie almost as much."

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Instead, Christie settled for the consolation prize of leading the transition committee and the expectation of a key job such as attorney general or chief of staff. Christie was Trump's third choice as chief of staff after advisers talked the president out of naming Jared Kushner or Tom Barrack, a Los Angeles financier and Trump friend, the book said. Then Ivanka intervened, apparently on behalf of her husband.

Trump later considered Christie and former New York Mayor Rudolph Guiliani for attorney general to replace Jeff Sessions, believing either Northeastern politician would "perform kamikaze acts for him," but aides persuaded Trump not to ditch Sessions.

Ultimately, Christie had little to show for his dalliances with Trump. The governor took an advisory role with the White House on combatting the opioid epidemic, which he hopes to be part of his legacy in New Jersey. He leaves office Jan. 16 with no announced employment prospects.

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In his public appearances, Christie has continued to praise Trump, particularly for his actions on opioids.

Christie spokesman Brian Murray did not return a message inquiring as to whether Wolff's portrayal of the Christie-Trump relationship was accurate.