Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie told Newsmax on Wednesday that he feels "very good" about where he is in the 2024 GOP race and believes he will do "extraordinarily well" in the early primary states.
"We're going to do extraordinarily well in New Hampshire, and we're going to do well in South Carolina," Christie said on "Eric Bolling The Balance." "I've been in the race for eight weeks. [Former President] Donald Trump's been running for eight years, so I feel very good about where I am right now."
Christie, who has been very critical of Trump, said that he needs to be on the offensive against the front-runner.
"You can't be the man without beating the man," he said. "The fact is that nobody else in this race really matters other than Donald Trump, and I believe the truth matters. The truth is very clear in many, many of these issues regarding Donald Trump."
Christie accused the former president of spending $40 million of "working class donors' money" on his legal fees and using another quarter million to refurbish his private plane.
"To spend $40 million of middle-class donors' money on your own legal fees when you are a billionaire. To spend $250,000 of donors on refurbishing your plane, $180,000 on a stylist for your wife, and call it 'political strategy consulting.' I mean, these things are just wrong.
"The fact is that people, when they hear those things, I think, will be compelled to believe they're wrong as well. Spend your own money on your legal fees. If you are running short of it, go sell Trump Tower."
The FiveThirtyEight website has Trump leading the GOP field with 53.4% compared to Christie's 2.6%.
Rival Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is currently second with 15.6%, and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy comes in third with 6.9%, according to the site.
Christie said that anyone that has followed his political career, including his two terms as New Jersey's governor, knows he "tells the truth," and that is what he will continue to do in the campaign.
"The fact is that I'm going to be out there telling people the truth, and that's at a premium in this race right now," he said. "People are not telling the truth. They're not being straight.
"I am being straight, and people know from watching me as governor of New Jersey for eight years that's exactly what they're going to get."
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