Washington (CNN) Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie knocked the claim from Donald Trump's legal team that, by nature of his office, the President cannot obstruct justice and could simply shut down the Russia investigation altogether.

"It's an outrageous claim, it's wrong," the former Republican governor said on ABC News' "This Week."

Christie, who was a former federal prosecutor before becoming governor, added that Trump's legal team "was trying to make a broad argument."

The argument from the President's lawyers, Jay Sekulow and then-Trump attorney John Dowd, came in a confidential January letter to special counsel Robert Mueller, who is investigating Russian meddling in the 2016 election, including a related question of whether Trump has obstructed justice with regard to that probe.

The lawyers wrote in the 20-page letter that the President cannot illegally obstruct the Russia probe because he, as the top law enforcement officer, has authority over all federal investigations.

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