"I've been investigated by everybody for the last three years, including by this network, and no one has ever been able to prove that I knew anything," Chris Christie said. | Getty Christie: 'I'm sure' Bridgegate was 'a factor' in Trump's VP decision

Fallout from the Bridgegate scandal was a "factor" in Donald Trump's decision to not select him as his running mate, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie told MSNBC's Brian Williams in a Wednesday night interview.

"I’m sure it was a factor," Christie said when asked the question on "The 11th Hour with Brian Williams."


After the host inquired "how big" of a factor it was, Christie deferred to the Republican nominee himself.

"You’d have to ask him, but I’m sure it was a factor," he said.

Asked whether he feared anything from former aides taking the stand in the federal trial against them over the alleged 2013 plot to close lanes of traffic to the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee, New Jersey, as a form of political retribution, Christie replied, "Not a thing."

"I've been investigated by everybody for the last three years, including by this network, and no one has ever been able to prove that I knew anything or had any role in this and this trial will just confirm that, but there will be critics who will never want to believe that ’cause they want to believe something different," Christie said.

In the same interview, Christie was tight-lipped about debate preparations for Trump, replying "absolutely nothing" when Williams asked what he could tell viewers "about the extent and the form of debate prep for Donald Trump."

"Listen: Debate prep for Donald Trump is for Donald Trump,” Christie said. “And as much as I love your viewers tonight, it's not for me to come out here and be talking about what we do when we help to prepare. I will tell you this, when we are with him, there's no holds barred," said Christie, who has been a part of the debate prep along with Rudy Giuliani. "And the fact is we get to ask whatever we want, and we ask things that we hope will help get him as ready as possible for the first encounter on Sept. 26. But as far as the specific goes, I’m not a tick-tock guy on that stuff."

Christie also declined to comment on the role of former Fox News chief Roger Ailes, saying, "the fact is that debate prep is meant to be a private thing to best prepare the candidate, and if those of us who participate in it come out and tell everybody exactly what's going on—this is like, you know, preparing a quarterback for a big football game, and if you give away the game plan, give away your preparing, you lessen your chances of your quarterback being successful.

"I want my quarterback to throw touchdowns on Sept. 26, and so, I’ll keep my advice to myself," he added.