PrintReport: Trump offered VP slot to Christie, then rescinded it
The New York Post is reporting that Donald Trump offered the vice presidential nomination to Chris Christie but changed his mind and gave the slot to Mike Pence.
The publication said the GOP nominee hadn't decided whom he was going to choose as his running mate with a week leading up to the Republican National Convention in July.
He had narrowed the choice to Christie, former Speaker Newt Gingrich and Indiana Gov. Mike Pence.
The GOP nominee's advisers and members of his family reportedly wanted Trump to choose Pence as his running mate — the decision he ultimately ended up making.
On July 12, the New Jersey governor contacted Trump to try to win the spot, according to The Post.
“Trump cares about who’s the most loyal and who kisses his a–- the most, not who’s the most qualified and what’s the best political decision,” a source close to the campaign told the New York Post.
“If it was up to him, it would have been Christie.”
A second source told the publication that Christie thinks "he deserves it and he earned it."
Christie “said all the BS that Trump likes to hear, and Trump said, ‘Yeah, sure I’m giving it to you,'" the second source told the newspaper.
Then Trump's campaign chairman at the time, Paul Manafort, arranged for the GOP nominee to meet with Pence in Indianapolis on July 13. He then told Trump his plane was having mechanical problems so the GOP nominee had to stay in town another night.
Pence used the time to try to win the spot, while Trump's advisers warned the issues Christie would bring with the Bridgegate controversy would destroy the GOP nominee's presidential campaign.
“Trump had wanted Christie but Bridgegate would have been the biggest national story,” a third Trump source said. “He’d lose the advantage of not being corrupt.”
Trump then decided to give Pence the position and told the New Jersey governor it would "tear my family apart if I gave you VP," a source told the newspaper.After the vice presidential announcement, Christie said in an interview on MSNBC: “If you’re a competitive person, like I am, and you’re used to winning, like I am — again, you don’t like coming in second, ever,” Christie said.
It was the worst kept secret of the campaign that Christie desperately wanted the veep slot, which is why he quickly endorsed Trump after his own ill fated campaign for president ended. It's also not surprising that Christie groveled before Trump in order to secure it.
Trump's advisers were right. If Christie had been on the ticket, the national media would have savaged him – not only for Bridgegate, but he would have been portrayed as virulently anti-union for his part in standing up to the teacher union and other public employee unions in New Jersey. Considering that much of Trump's support will come from blue-collar Democrats, there is little doubt that Christie would have been a drag on the ticket.
Trump apparently likes to reward loyalty, but to do so at the expense of his chances to win the presidency would have been disastrous.
