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Federal authorities charged two Christie staffers and another New Jersey official with using state resources for political ends. One of the Christie staffers pled guilty; the other two officials are scheduled to go on trial this fall. Christie denies playing a role in the lane closures; an internal probe he commissioned by an outside law firm cleared him of any wrongdoing. He insists that the media owe him an apology for falsely suggesting that he instigated Bridgegate.
*From a Newsweek article: [http://www.newsweek.com/chris-christie-all-you-need-know-354901 CHRIS CHRISTIE: ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW]
https://www.chrischristie.com/
*From NY Times article:
[http://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/01/us/politics/chris-christie-on-the-issues.html Chris Christie on the Issues]
===Iran Nuclear Deal===
Christie opposes the pending nuclear deal with Iran, calling it “the single biggest disaster in the seven years of the Obama administration.” He claims that President Obama is pursuing the deal because he has “an absolutely quenchless thirst to have his name in the history books.” As for Iran:
“They’re the largest state sponsor of terrorism in the world. They say ‘Death to America’ on a regular basis. They want to blow Israel off the map. And this president wants to give them the ability to get nuclear weapons? It is outrageous. It is immoral what’s happening. He should walk away from that table, and by the way, if we don’t have enough guts to do it, our allies should walk away from the table.”
That doesn’t necessarily mean, however, that Christie would tear up any deal on his first day in the Oval Office, as most of his GOP rivals have pledged to do:
“I’m not one of those guys who’s going to say to you, ‘On Day One, I will abrogate the agreement.… On Day One, I will look into and try to decide what to do with the agreement, depending on where we are at that moment. Because, by the way, it’s not just us involved anymore. We have a number of our allies around the world who’re at that table as well, and sanctions are most effective when not only we do it, but the other allies do it.”
*From a Newsweek article: [http://www.newsweek.com/chris-christie-all-you-need-know-354901 CHRIS CHRISTIE: ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW]
==Trade==
Christie supports new free-trade agreements like the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership(TTIP) and the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), at least in theory. The main caveat is that he doesn’t trust President Obama to deliver a good deal:
“I’m generally in favor of trade and free trade. Of course the devil is always in the details. I’m not a huge truster in this president’s ability to negotiate on behalf of American interests. I’m someone who believes in trade promotion authority. But I don’t know that I would give this president trade promotion authority. This is the same guy who’s negotiating such a great deal that Iran is going to be a nuclear power. And so trade deals I think are important to expand American markets to bring our products to other people and theirs to us and to allow America competition to be able to continue to be what drives us to be the number one economy in the world.”
Last September, Christie traveled to Mexico to help boost its trade with New Jersey. He followed up with a trip to Canada in December. He explained his reasoning for the two trips:
“When we decided to do foreign travel in 2014, I intentionally selected Mexico and Canada…we need to make these neighbors of ours a first thought, not an afterthought, and the fact is that the best way to do that is to meet people, to let them know by your physical presence and your interest in what’s going on in their countries that they’re important partners of ours.… I believe we need to spend much more time on our own hemisphere and on our continent, but also because I wanted to acknowledge and have the opportunity to expand our business and trade relationships with Canada and Mexico.”
Christie emphasizes the importance of energy cooperation and trade among North American countries. On that score, he thinks the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) needs revision:
“I do think that we need to take another look at NAFTA.…It’s been 20 years now since NAFTA was put into effect and what’s the next chapter going to look like? We know what’s happened over the last 20 years with NAFTA, but I think we need to be talking to our neighbors about what the next generation of NAFTA will look like.”
*From a Newsweek article: [http://www.newsweek.com/chris-christie-all-you-need-know-354901 CHRIS CHRISTIE: ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW]
