Christie made his comments at a nearly 40-minute press conference in New Jersey. Christie unleashes anger at Boehner

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie unleashed his full anger and scorn on John Boehner Wednesday, saying the House speaker’s decision to cancel an expected vote on an aid bill for Hurricane Sandy victims was “disappointing and disgusting to watch” and an example of the “toxic internal politics” of the Republican majority.

“They are so consumed with their internal politics, they’ve forgotten they have a job to do,” Christie said. “Everything is the subject of one-upmanship. It is why the American people hate Congress.”


The governor made his comments at a nearly 40-minute news conference in New Jersey. It was extraordinary spectacle: A popular national figure for the Republican Party publicly castigating the House Republican leader for showing “callous indifference” to the Northeast and being consumed with “palace intrigue.”

Christie singled out House Majority Leader Eric Cantor for praise, saying the Virginia Republican tried to be helpful. But the governor said he had called Boehner repeatedly Tuesday night without getting an answer after the bill was abruptly pulled.

Christie said he finally spoke to Boehner Wednesday morning, at which time the speaker told him he was planning to meet with the New Jersey and New York Republican delegations in the afternoon. But without directly commenting on his conversation with the speaker, Christie said he had yet to hear a “substantive credible” reason for not taking up the bill.

“We were given assurances by everyone that this was going to be done. We got continued assurances as late as [Tuesday] night at 9 o’clock,” Christie said. “All I can tell you is this was the speaker’s decision, his alone.”

“I have to tell you I think that Eric was working as hard as he could to get this done,” the governor said. “You see a lot of palace intrigue down there and unfortunately folks have put politics ahead of their responsibilities.”

Christie said he was not offered an explanation for the move.

“I was called at 11:20 last night by Leader Cantor and told that authority for the vote had been pulled by the speaker. Our delegation asked for a meeting with the speaker at that time. They were refused. I called the speaker four times last night after 11:20 and he did not take my calls.

“Every day that we don’t get this aid are days that we can’t help people get back in their homes, get businesses reopened, get our economy really moving in our state again,” Christie continued. “It’s absolutely disgraceful. This used to be something that was not political. Disaster relief was something that you didn’t play games with.”

Christie wasn’t done.

“I’m not going to get into the specifics of what I discussed with John Boehner today but what I will tell you is there is no reason at the moment for me to believe anything they tell me. Because they have been telling me stuff for weeks, and they didn’t deliver.”

But the governor said he hasn’t given up hope that Boehner ultimately will do the right thing.

“No one is beyond redemption. Do your job, and come through for the people of this country as a national leader the way you should and I’ll be fine,” Christie said of Boehner. “Everybody makes mistakes. I think last night was a big mistake. And I think it can be rectified, it can be rectified by him.”

“So no, he hasn’t lost all credibility with me. But right now, I think what happened last night was absolutely uncalled for. And I have been given no credible explanation as to why,” the governor continued.

“But he’s the speaker of the House and tomorrow’s another day. So he could prove to me that he really does care about the people of New York and New Jersey by getting this package done.”