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Chris Christie's hot mic exchange saying Nikki Haley ‘spent $68 million’ on TV ads goes viral
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie dropped out of the 2024 Republican presidential race on Wednesday, January 10, hours before the final GOP debate
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie dropped out of the 2024 Republican presidential race on Wednesday, January 10, hours before the final GOP debate. This comes shortly after he was heard blasting Nikki Haley as “not up to this” and saying Ron DeSantis as “petrified” in a hot mic conversation.
Christie, 61, announced the suspension of his campaign at a town hall in Windham, New Hampshire. Shortly before his announcement, New York Post heard him on a video feed, saying of Haley, “She’s spent $68 million so far just on TV,” and later adding that DeSantis had spent “$59 million … and we’ve spent 12."
“Who’s punching above their weight and who’s getting a return on their investment?” Christie said. “You know? And she’s going to get smoked. And you and I both know it, she’s not up to this.” He added that “DeSantis called me petrified that I would,” possibly referring to leaving the race. “He’s probably getting out after Iowa,” another person is heard saying.
A source familiar with the exchange said that DeSantis indeed called Christie to thank him for taking part in the 2024 campaign, before the announcement. According to the source, Christie then complained about Haley and told DeSantis she was a “joke,” had “performed terribly” and was “not up to the task.”
Meanwhile, Christie took a dig at Trump shortly after dropping out of the race.“I promise you this: I will make sure that in no way do I enable Donald Trump to ever be President of the United States again. That’s more important than my own personal ambition,” he wrote.
Christie’s exit comes shortly before the beginning of the final GOP debate. Notably, former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis are the only two Republican presidential candidates facing off in the final debate. This will be the last opportunity for the two to highlight their opinions in front of a national audience before the Iowa caucuses kick off the 2024 nominating process on Monday, January 15.
