Christie endorses Trump

Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump stands with New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie before a rally in Fort Worth, Texas, Friday, Feb. 26, 2016. AP Photo/LM Otero

In February 2016, Christie endorsed then-presidential candidate Donald Trump just two weeks after Christie bowed out of the race.

"I can guarantee you that the one person that Hillary and Bill Clinton do not want to see on that stage come next September is Donald Trump," Christie said at a press conference. "They know how to run the standard political playbook against junior senators and run them around the block — they do not know the playbook with Donald Trump because he is rewriting the playbook."

Christie's endorsement, which came several months before Trump clinched the party's nomination, shocked the political world — and many New Jerseyans — provoking yet another backlash against him.

"We're fed up with his opportunism, we're fed up with his hypocrisy," wrote six New Jersey newspapers in a joint editorial asking for Christie to resign or be pushed out. "We're disgusted with his endorsement of Donald Trump after he spent months on the campaign trail trashing him, calling him unqualified by temperament and experience to be president."

In the week following the endorsement, Christie's approval rating dropped from 33% to 27%.

And many fellow Republicans voiced shock and dismay.

"None of us understand why he did this," said South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley, who has since been appointed by Trump to be the US's ambassador to the UN.