Christie rules out running against accused senator Bob Menendez

Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie on Sunday closed the possibility of running against newly impeached Democratic Senator Bob Menendez (New Jersey) for his seat in Congress.

Speaking to Kristen Welker on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” the Republican presidential candidate said he had “no interest” in being a U.S. senator if he ends up losing the party’s primary.

When Welker followed up by asking if Christie would “completely rule it out,” the former governor maintained his stance.

“Yes, I have. I have my entire career,” he said. “I had the opportunity to appoint myself to the United States Senate, Kristen, in 2013, when Frank Lautenberg passed away and I was governor.”

“If I don’t appoint myself to the United States Senate, the easiest way to get there, I sure as hell won’t run.”

Christie’s comments come a few days later. Federal prosecutors indicted Menendez on corruption chargesaccusing the Senate Foreign Relations Chairman and his wife of accepting hundreds of thousands of dollars in bribes in exchange for favors he administered using the power of his office.

In addition to the half-million dollars in cash found in Menendez’s home, investigators said they also They find gold bars worth more than $100,000. supposedly given to the senator and his wife for their New Jersey Business Partners. One of those associates was an Egyptian American accused of providing confidential Menendez information to the Egyptian government.

An increasing number of legislators, including democrats, are calling for Menéndez to resign from the Senate. Menéndez has denied the accusations, suggesting that the accusation is part of a conspiracy to overthrow him, a first-generation Latin American, from his seat in the Senate. The Democrat plans to resign from his leadership position on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, but has maintained that he will not resign as a senator.

Meanwhile, Christie remains far behind former President Donald Trump, who despite facing multiple accusations leads the Republican Party primaries by more than 40 points. according to a new NBC poll. In that poll, Trump is the top choice of 59% of national Republican primary voters, followed by Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley and former Vice President Mike Pence.

Christie, who according to the national poll is 55 points behind Trump, noted that he is closer to the former president when looking at individual states.

“This whole race will change once people actually vote, Kristen,” he said. “If it’s a national poll, (and) if we don’t have a national primary, I don’t spend more than three minutes thinking about it.