Former President Donald Trump said the appointment of Christopher Wray as FBI director on a recommendation by former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was "probably" a mistake.
The FBI has been mired in allegations of being weaponized against conservatives while giving favorable treatment to President Joe Biden and his family. Under Wray, the FBI executed a raid on Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, seizing thousands of documents, some of which were marked classified.
Trump was interviewed by Fox News in a segment to be aired Sunday, The Hill reported on Friday, and he was asked by Maria Bartiromo whether it was a mistake to put Wray in charge of the FBI in 2017, after he fired James Comey.
"Sadly, it probably was," Trump said in an excerpt released Friday. "You know, he was recommended very strongly by Chris Christie, who is, you know, a sad case."
Newsmax has reached out to Christie for comment.
The former president criticized Christie — who is challenging Trump for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination and has been attacking him at every opportunity — in his Fox News interview over the former governor's low polling numbers. The latest RealClear Politics average poll numbers for 2024 GOP presidential candidates has Christie at 2.6%, way behind Trump (53%) and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (20.6%), and seventh in the field of 10 candidates listed.
Christie has repeatedly defended Wray, and the two have known each other for more than 20 years. Wray represented Christie over his alleged involvement in politically motivated lane closures on the George Washington Bridge in September 2013. It was alleged that the closures were payback to Democratic Mayor Mark Sokolich of Fort Lee, New Jersey, for not supporting Christie as a candidate in the 2013 New Jersey gubernatorial election.
Three of Christie's aides — deputy chief of staff Bridget Anne Kelly, and Port Authority officials David Wildstein and Bill Baroni — were federally indicted for orchestrating the lane closures. Kelly and Baroni testified Christie was aware of the scheme, but Christie denied any involvement.