During an interview with conservative radio host Hugh Hewitt on Monday, former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R-NJ) squarely blamed Donald Trump for the January 6 insurrection, accusing the former president of “inciting” the deadly attack on the US Capitol.
“I think that the actions the Vice President took on January 6th spoke loudly, and I’m glad he’s finally put words to it. I don’t know why it took him so long, but I’m glad that he did,” Christie said of former Vice President Mike Pence’s recent denouncement of a plan to overturn the election.
“And let’s face it. Let’s call this what it is. January 6th was a riot that was incited by Donald Trump in an effort to intimidate Mike Pence and the Congress into doing exactly what he said in his own words last week – overturn the election,” Christie told Hewitt.
Christie said that Trump is “trying to do a cleanup on aisle one here in correcting that stuff, but it’s not going to change.”
“[Trump] actually told the truth by accident,” he noted. “He wanted the election to be overturned. Donald Trump did respond to what the Vice President said, and I think it’s kind of akin to the kid standing in the corner holding his breath. You know, it’s immature, and it’s beneath the office that he held.”
Hewitt, however, admitted that he avoids talking about Jan. 6 because it turns off his conservative audience.
“I never talk about January 6th, because I like my audience,” Hewitt said. “I don’t want them to turn me off.”
Listen to the exchange HERE.
