Chris Christie: Either Garland or Trump-appointed Delaware prosecutor is lying
2024 presidential candidate Chris Christie analyzes the Hunter Biden probe on 'Fox News Tonight.'
Republican presidential candidate and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie called upon his experience as a federal prosecutor to analyze the Hunter Biden investigation being run out of Wilmington, telling Fox News it has become clear one of two top figures in the probe are "lying."
Christie, who was appointed to the U.S. attorney post in Newark by then-President George W. Bush, said either Attorney General Merrick Garland or Delaware U.S. Attorney David Weiss are not telling the truth about whether Weiss was prevented from fully investigating and charging Biden.
Weiss, who by statute only has jurisdiction in Delaware's three counties – New Castle, Kent and Sussex – wanted to bring charges against Hunter Biden while he was domiciled within the Central District of California as well as in the District of Columbia.
IRS investigator Gary Shapley recently spoke out as a whistleblower, and the New York Times on Wednesday confirmed claims that the offices of Martin Estrada in Los Angeles and Matt Graves in Washington rebuffed Weiss' attempts to bring charges there.
EX-AG SAYS CONGRESS MUST SUMMON BIDEN-APPOINTED DC, CALIF. PROSECUTORS IN HUNTER BIDEN CASE
Christie (WADE VANDERVORT/AFP via Getty Images)
"I did this for 7 years," Christie said of his time as the Garden State's top federal prosecutor. "There is no way that getting two misdemeanor tax pleas and dismissing a gun charge should take five years. They were obviously there were people trying to investigate other stuff that we've heard about, from Hunter's laptop to these WhatsApp messages and lots of other things in terms of Burisma and his interaction with foreign entities."
Christie said Shapley's interview with Fox News anchor Bret Baier made it clear rank-and-file agents within the bureaucracy like himself simply want to follow leads where they take them, and not inject politics into their probes.
"They just want it to get to a conclusion. And I think what's going on here is Hunter Biden was undercharged. This deal doesn't look right. We're not hearing about all these other facts that are coming out," he said.
Christie suggested Delaware federal Judge Maryellen Noreika, who is handling Biden's sentencing, should send "everybody back to your corners" until the matter is fleshed out.
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Biden (REUTERS/Elizabeth Frantz)
"Look, Mr. Weiss, the U.S. attorney, was appointed by Donald Trump -- you would think that he was given the authority to be able to do whatever he wants. But now we're also hearing that he was stopped from going after things in both California and in Washington, D.C. So Congress has to do oversight on this."
Christie said the situation warrants a special counsel, a role for which Weiss was also reportedly rebuffed.
"Right now you've got the attorney general saying Weiss out all the authority and you have the whistleblower saying Weiss told them that he didn't have the authority to go to California," he said.
"[S]omeone's lying. It's either Merrick Garland or it's Mr. Weiss, the U.S. attorney in Delaware. But they can't both be telling the truth."
Christie added that his experience in Newark as the Bush-appointed federal prosecutor gives him not only the ability to substantively analyze the Hunter Biden case, but also provides a grounding for his presidential aspirations.
He said the U.S. attorney general as a role must be "no nonsense" and someone who is going to investigate without regard to "fear, favor or partisanship," adding the American people may be losing faith in main Justice.
He doubled down on his assertion that neither Joe Biden nor Trump are qualified to serve as president.
While he did not directly respond to host Lawrence Jones query about voting for Donald Trump if he were nominee, Christie said he "can't support him."
Christie pointed out former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush was miles ahead of Trump at this time in 2015, while then-Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., was similarly somewhat of a statistical footnote in Spring 2007.
Christie also noted he was once one of Trump's greatest backers. The former governor helped Trump with debate preparation, led his transition team in 2016, and recommended his own former BridgeGate attorney Christopher Wray to be FBI director.