who was hurt and i'm telling

that story for when this happened and the day before school started my senior year in high school. and then he comes back and says are you sure it was the day school started before your senior year i said apsley sure if remember it like yesterday. this woman found the front page of our local weekly paper in livingston andnd actually it was the day before the starting a school my junior year not my senior year. i guarantee you if you put a gun to my head and said if you are wrong we will blow your brains out i would say go ahead because i know it. i absolutely knowin it. so roberta plays an integral role in the process by researching everything we talked about to make sure we have it right. first and foremost for the

integrity of the book and also simon & schuster wants to make sure we won't get sued. so then chapter by chapter comes in we are working on it together and we probably go back and forth on each chapter two or three times. he makes suggestions and i make suggestions and we go back-and-forth through e-mail and then we get the manuscript done and send it to our editor. then she sends it back to us with notes in the margins what she wants us to explain more or t add and in this instance we were on a very tight deadline because to start the book in march to have it out by november is land speed record

for publishing. i don't get it but i don't want to argue because they are paying foror it. so we were working really quickly. then she decided for an additional chapter on sent it by e-mail and alice said did you read the latest e-mail? i said not yet and he said don't. i will break it to you gently. she wants another chapter. so literally we were on the phone with each other and i said on what? it was on covid policy. we talked about that a lot in the bookwi in the first part with my experience i'm sure we will get to that. but this is what should the policy be going forward. and by the way i needed in

today's. so i said turn on your tape recorder we do have time to get together so let's go. and then write the dedication and acknowledgment. so you see the dedication in the front of the book and acknowledgment and that it has contributed to this part if i life and career. so believe me when you are finally done with the acknowledgment and youn. hit send they acknowledge they receive it you don't want to see it again you don't want to see it until it looks like that and when it does looking at the cover and the title page i have not looked at the

text since august when i sent it back out. >> also you authored an audiobook.k. and the other thing so to tell a little inside story so with a life preserver and had a red cross that they oppose that. >> holding a red cross flag and they would not give us permission to use it on the cover so we had to go to the life preserver. >> but on the final copy they still had the red cross flag and flagged it. >> but it has the side of that that shows you how little i

wanted to look at this but that's a good catcher we would have gotten sued. that iss the process of the way i have written the book in the same process as well. >> chrispa is a student of history and there is a lot of history in the book. talk to the audience about the fact we go over conspiracy theories and why it's important to review history and the john birch society. >> when i start to talk about the idea and make the argument for why engaging are spending time with these conspiracy theories could have been out there pizza gate, birther and electionn stuff and i thought i had historical context. this is not the first time we

have gone through this as a country or as a party. i write extensively a pretty large chapter on the john perch society whiche in the late fifties and early sixties, became a force inside the republican party. very much oneem that had an anti- somatic strain to it that went through a number of conspiracy theories in that regard. and became a force inside the republican party. william f buckley who is the founder of national review magazine and a thought leader was hardly disturbed by these developments of seeing how prominent the john birch society was becoming in republican party politics so he approached barry goldwater and knowing he was considering running for president in 1964

said we should do this together and to push back and if we do so together we could have an impact on the parties so i will write the first editorial in the national review then you write a letter toto the editor supporting the editorial. goldwater agrees. buckley writes a 4000 word editorial about why the john birch society is so bad for america and the republican party talking about anti-semitism and why it is so bad. goldwater was his out. no way j to put it he starts to pressure back insideoe the republican party and he is worried if he does this he will not win the nomination. so he writes back a very short

and week letter to buckley which is nothing that they agreed upon so he decides he will not publish it and then goes to somebody else to see who has credibility in the movement. and thenof went to ronald reagan at that time was not even the elected official giving a speech on behalf of goldwater it was entitled rendezvous with destiny and reagan became a very popular figure because of the speech he would be elected two years later as governor of california. but reagan stood up and wrote a long impassioned letter as a former democrat as to why he thought the birchers were not

somebody we should be embracing with thebs republican party. it did the trick. goldwater ran and you may remember the speech of the conventionas is one of the most famous lineses of extremism in the defense of liberty is no vice. that is directly john birch language. and he lost monumentally in fact here's a little historicalwa note barry goldwater was the last republican to lose the county for president until trump in 202064 through 2020 voted for every republican candidate they rejected goldwater and 2 trump in 2020 and there is an interesting i wasn't sure anybody would care about that

but this audience will and i think it says something of these historical comparisons we are making. it is an interesting chapter for those that follow into context talking about q-anon or pizza gate or the election i hate when i hear commentators say we are in the most dangerous time in the historyn of this country we are more divided than we ever have been. george came to me and i said i don't know. it seems to me the civil war was a time we were more

divided. [laughter] >> when you are doing debate prep with the president and you wentpl into with reams of examples from incumbent presidents tell the audience what you told president trump. >> i did debate prep for 2016 pitcher this but i played hillary clinton. [laughter]pr

and debate prep in 2016. i didn't do the first debate. prepping for the first debate and the performance reflected that after the first debate he said that will you do it for me for the second debate? i said only by men charging can decide who is in the room because if we have every tom dick and harry in the room i don't care to play any said you are in charge. so we did debate prep for the second and third i did not go to the second debate we went toed the first one we watch the second debate atr home. seven or eight minutes after it was over he was done shaking hands and taking pictures in my phone rang and it was donald trump. he said you are so great that

was so easy compared to debating you. that was great you are a better hillary than she is. [laughter] 's see will do debate number three? oh 2020 comes in his staff comes to me as chief of staff was mark mayor meadows and jared kushner who came to me and saidin we want you back again and now this is july. and we want to start this weekend. the first debate was late september. i said he's not going to like this. it's too early and they said no he needs a lot of work i said i know this but they insisted that they had spoken to him and he was fine with it

3:00 o'clock on a saturday. so iit show up and we are sitting in the conference room on the first floor of the and the president walks and i'm sitting across from him and he looks at me and says what the hell he doing here? i said debate prep. he said are you kidding me? in july? from the end of september? how stupid you think i am? nine looking at jared and meadows who were in the room and i just knew it was a set up a new they had not spoken to them because they do not have the gets and they just figured i would charm him. so i prepared. i went back and since the

debate started between kennedy and nixon then no debates in 64 or 60 or 72 then and 76 ford was way behind jimmy carter coming out of the convention so he agreed to the debates with carterre so that started know ever since then there been presidential debates every four years. so those articles from 76, 80, 84, 92, 96. 2004. and 2012 those reelections with thehe incumbent president seeking reelection in gerald

ford's case. and in everyone the incumbent president lost the first debate. every time. and i went back and spoke to some of the folks who prepped those presidents for the debate they all knew i was doing trump and they all told me the same thing which i suspected presidents don't want to prep because they are president. on the president. why do i need to prepare for the debate this guy or woman don't of the presidency i know the presidency so when i sat down and said we need to start now and he said no joke what to i have to prepare for? i'm president. i said this is so great. [laughter] so i take out a stack of articles this deck and tossed them across the table and i said debate prep is over.

we are not doing anything else today all i want you to do is go back tonight and read those articles and then i will see the next time you want to see me and i got up jared and meadows relate maybe we should just talk in general. i said read the articles mr. president.ai heen said what are they about how every incumbent president lost thought they did not need to prepare because they were president does that sound familiar and he said is that true? which is another indication of the depth of his historical knowledge with politics. he doesn't have any. this was all news to him i gave it to him and walked out jared and meadows followed me out and i looked i said you are so full of crap.

you never talk to him. of course theyly denied it and said they did but he was clearly surprised to see me there and did not want to prep. he read the articles. of course he did not follow the advice but he read the articles and called me a couple days later he was the conclusion that he drew. those other guys are so bad. [laughter] i can't believe how bad all of them were. i will not be like that i will be really good. okayus mr. president. >> he was not a boy scout. >> we go into the perforation but 16 was difficult because right at the end of the prep access hollywood happened so i'm in a the middle of prepping

him on a friday afternoon before the sunday debate and income the press secretary with the transcript of the access hollywood tape that derailed us but he was very receptive toe preparation because he knew although he would not admit he lost the first debate. he knew and did not want to lose again r so he was very receptive to preparation much less o than 2020. >> so with all the conspiracy theories, talk to this audience about where the proof is wherere donald trump lost the election that the specifics about the suburban women and lost votes but gain votes in the city.

>> listening tool the president talked about this he has a number of different theories about why the election was stolen the way i try to approach it in the book two jobs ago i try not to write like the governor but the united states attorney so if i have to prove this in court but what i do? if you have any doubts i want to address those issues and lay out the facts and let you draw your own conclusion. but obviously and taking it from that perspective from when i was us attorney i will bring in the case and the evidence supports the t case i'm bringing. under the theories election was stolen from him in pennsylvania and philadelphia and michigan and detroit.

those who showed up in the middle of the night they were filling out ballots no one was accounted for there were more ballots than people registered to vote. so we go through the registration numbers in pennsylvania and then we look at philadelphia donald trump actually got 3 percent more of the vote in 202010 he did 2016 in the city of philadelphia and joe biden got 1 percent then hillary clinton did the very unsuccessful job when you guy you try to steal from get 3 percent more that the guy you still forget 1 percent less.

they did not steal it. the other thing you will hear is when i went to bed, donald trump was winning pennsylvania by 700,000 votes. then i wake up and he is losing by 80000. they stole it. no. they had an unusual election because theh most mail-in ballots used in the history of the presidentialnt election. each state decided differently how they recount the votes and in what order. so in ohio when you went to bed and look at ohio that when you woke up trump one by nine points. by the samemp pennsylvania theory trump stole ohio. from biden. but here's what happened.

in ohio they counted the mail in ballots first those were overwhelmingly across the country 75 percent democrat. democrats are generally more fearful of covid then republicans so they were more fearful to go out to the polling place. second d donald trump said all summer and all fall the ballots are rigged don't trust meal in ballots and vote on election day so republican voters listen to the leader of the party they did not vote by mail but at the machines that day so in ohio counting all the mail-in votes first biden was up seven points. we are watching at abc because we did not know which way they were doing itul until we started to ask questions.

how does joe biden went ohio? then they count the machine votes and it was a 16-point swing. trump went from down 72 up nine andma 19 but it was the opposite in pennsylvania they started with the machine votes but then they counted the mail-in votes and he loses by 80. very similar swing in terms of numbers and percentage of ohio.nn lastly, in pennsylvania, somethingos was in stark relief what happened all across the country and i would suggest why donald trump is the first can't candidate to county.ris

justice montgomery and i am forgetting one. but in 2016 versus 2020, donald trump lost those four counties by 104,000 more votes to joe biden then hillary clinton. he lost both times but lost by 104,000 votes more and those for suburban counties then in 2016 he lost the entire state by 80. so if you need to know why donald trump lost pennsylvania's for the same reason because of white educated suburban voters who gave him a chance so i am sure in this town and your friends across the county to suburban

white educated part voted far less then in 2016 that to friends of yours there is no question that is what happened to him that is where he lost in michigan. that's for he lost in wisconsin over and over again. the suburbs outside of milwaukee and detroit and philadelphia i voted for in 2016 and i talked about one anecdotal story in the book with a woman who shall remain nameless because she lives here who would volunteer for both myth gubernatorial campaign that she saw me the day before the election and said governor, what will happen tomorrow? i said that she laid down and started tost shake her head.

i knew. she was a strong republican and had worked for me twice as i know you're disappointed she said i voted for biden is that you? why? she said governor i cannot listen to that voice for another four years. supportive of we need to understand why this is hard for donald trump to accept this it was not a rejection of his policies. it was a rejection of him personally by a group of voters who had been with him for years earlier. i continuous somebody is been on the ballot who has won and lost, first of all winning is much better but winning is intensely personal politics is different in sports. you have a good day or a bad

day sometimes you win sometimes you the person is better. itus doesn't mean that you are rejected but the other day the other guy or woman was better. in politics they look at you and a a look at the other person and then to a hard time accepting this in part because he knows what i just said is absolutely true as a personal rejection and georgia and arizona. >> that is a good segue into the last question and then we'll take questions from the

audience. but tell us your review right now as an effort with the legislature to federalizeze voting rights. >> in congress they want to federalize allll the rules of voting paragraph to tell you you don't want to live in that system under my opinion. each state is different. how could so when it is the least densely populated stay in america and jersey is the most densely populated the challenges we face in voting and the accommodations are significantly different. second, the constitution is pretty clear i think that

these decisions are should be made by each individual state. >> imagine the federal government would be in charge of counting all the the great people i may go there as volunteers and pay a little bit but not nearly as much as they should bee to sit there all day and help us vote. imagine they are all replaced so what we need to do look what happened. here is why because it is paper ballots but if you time

it is the machine. well this time we had because they could not get ready that quickly covid comes march of 2020 you cannot order those machines to get them here by november even if you wanted to. so one of us all of this in the stateno in particular all across the country what we need to do is not assume we go back in 2022. some people have gotten used to that. they like it. it's convenient for them and i think you'll have a lot more mail-in voting overtime so we better get more machines to count these notes. and for what it takes for us to tell you who won the more

you are wondering what are they up to? who was messing around with this? it is a natural american thing because it goes back to the founding of the country that there is a conspiracy theory aboutre politics and that's what happened to the free society that have to be right but just opinions but to express them i will always remember what brenda used to say. one of the funniest people i ever met one of the lines he would say is i made my wife promise when i die she would. me so i could remain active in politics in the county. [laughter] i want to make it clear i'm not saying irregularities do not happen on election day.

they did in a happened in new jersey a w month ago and where i ran into thousand nine and in 13 it happens all the time but is there enough irregularities to change the results and anyone state let alone the five states necessary to changest the results of the election and i think we are proven it is not possible. so i think that is an important thing to remember if you don't trust the county clerk to trust the votes, wait until the federal bureaucrat is counting your votes. at least now we know. if weng think can is messing around we can kick her out you

will not get rid of the federal bureaucrat who is invested in the election process. >> does anybody have questions. >> . >> so if the biden administration has had when do you think mainstream media will turn against him and then to be slanted to the left there cannot be any question about that anymore they almost play it up. on sundays it is almost never not three / one with that roundtable.

it is always three / one everyone's noel they will throw in a cool republican to sit with me. [laughter] for most of the time it is three / one and that's uneven one of the networks. if you go to the news network they revel in their slant cnn and msnbc are reveling with their leftward slant and fox goes right. i say you should watch a little bit of both just so you realize that are two different worlds we are living in two different ways and most of the time you come back to the way you think about things. but that is why if you look at the bottom of our driveway and they kids tease us endlessly that we still get actual newspapers. our kids are like are you kidding?

just go on your phone. but we still get them look at the bottom of our driveway there are three newspapers every day. "the wall street journal", to give conservative side, new york timesus i know the enemy is thinking and the new york post just to have fun. [laughter] i thank you should get a taste with mainstream media as well. i painfully watch a go back i cannot watch msnbc to be honest. i can't is just too much but i will go back and forth between cnn and fox because it want to see wherere the big stories of the day are and how they cover them differently but they do and they emphasize which stories. there will be a day where

there is a big story on wall street and in washington dc. cnn will cover the washington dc story and cover it with nothing but democratic members of the house and senate and the pundits comment. fox news won't cover the washington story unless it is really big and then there will be stories at the border. 's everybody's taking a different approach and i think it's educational to watch all of it is much as you can put up with because it helps to inform me and they think it because that's what they are

hearing. why has the take hold and those population and charter schools? because the party they are voting for is entrenched and not supporting that in the cycle is perpetuated and it never gets better i cannot understand why that population has not moved to the school choice argument the school choice argument. >> there is two reasons and

the first is habit. fulton the inner cities got into the habit of voting democratat and they have a hard time breaking the habit. unless, republicans aggressively campaign and make the argument. would tell you the party has done a lousy job and republicans tend to be uncomfortable going into those communities to make those arguments. i think it is foolhardy if you get me in 2013 after four years of arguing hard and also with more charter schools and any other governor than what

happened? we got more votes we won union city we got 62 percent of the vote in 2013. what i tried to argue you've got to go to places you are uncomfortable to make the arguments that you know that's what voters need to hear and tot me the education issue this will cut across parties parents care most about their children and they want their children to get a good education the biggest supporters in the cities were pastors of the major churches inn places like all

denominations including the e-mom in muslim mosques. because they say to me we are tired of seeing the children every sunday constantly be failed by the public school system so the reason is two.three the teachers unions across the country spend an exorbitant amount of money to make sure that it doesn't. we are the best schools in america. and those who care about the underprivileged but yet he will not say one word about

the failure of the urban schools because to do that would run counter to the teachers unions and you all saw when i ran against the teachers union, they be me senseless the money they spent was extraordinary. that in 2010 we were in the midst of the first big fight of the teachers union. and then to be in the suv with the trooper going someplace. we were on the turnpike and we had gotten off the exit and up to the left was a big turnpike billboard and it was a picture of me that said chris christie hates children. [laughter]

it was an awful picture of me. [laughter] at that time our son patrick if you know her family he is the straw that stirs the drink was ten years old at the time. i was hoping they didn't see it. patrick says hey dad your people have to get better pictures of you. [laughter] i said patrick, did you read what the billboard said? those are not my people. he said i don't know dad. it wasl. a really bad picture. >> you brought up hudson county so i am compelled to tell a story that goes back to

1985 herean when they were supporting a democratic candidate for senator. but he gets up and look separately and says i don't understand why you happen to be running as a democrat because most of the democrats i know from hudson county follow the same pattern they elected and indicted then sentenced. >> i had a similar experience in my old job. [laughter] i went to ask about october 22nd in 2020 they you happen to be there which was the garden party preceding the debate between biden and trump. i thinkt we all know what happened subsequent to the garden party. they knew that trump tested positive for covid and there

were all sorts of supporters of trump and then at the time knowing he had the coronavirus but a gentle man you supported for president and in terms of his loyalty and closest associates and essentially putting them in peril as a result off the test for testing positiverr. >> so gently correct the record my understanding is he tested positive the next day that doesn't changees the thesis of yourr question but for what happened the day before. the day before everyone was sitting there i don't believe

it was a super spreader but the people who got covid who were at the party that were not involved with debate prep. one was father jenkins. i am convinced we all got it in debate prep there were seven of us including the president and six of us got covid. now it is disturbing to me and mary pat to have heard for the first time one or two days ago that the president tested positive for covid nhs a positive for four days and preparing for the debates. there is a story in the book

after is was put in the hospital he was in the hospital and he calls me and now the story makes more sense than it did from two days ago. he said how are you doing? i said not well it's bad so to tough guys like us. how could this have gotten we as toughest guys in america. [laughter] and then getting to the point of the call said how do you thank you got it? i said i don't know mr. president. i'm pretty confident i got it at the white house and six out of seven got it who knows who patient zero was. obviously i got it at the white house. he said to me you're not going

to blame it on me are you? i said why would i blame it on you? i don't know you gave it to me. i say that i don't know that it's true. up until two days ago my thought process of that was that was justice. area. he didn't want to be blamed i was always a little bit suspicious because every one of us besides him got tested every day before we went in. so the process was during that time you get admitted somebody escorted you to the eisenhower building y next door where the medical unit is a swab you and then to get the results of the test if you are negative you

are authorized because here is the only one we didn't know he is the president. so look. >> and how bad my experience was and a couple of moments feeling like it would go the wrong way. and finding that out a couple of days ago. and then they try to headset and then i got a negative test after that. so they were not sure.

and from what we were owed. and jason miller is the only one who didn't get it. but the rest of us all would have worn masks but we didn't because we said in testing every day because every person and then he has to live with his own conscience and i cannot impose. about what he would do if he was positive but what i will

tell you is that for me, i was convinced that i was in a safe so because all of the testing and i was wrong. now i know why. i did not know them but regardless of their what event extra layer for me as you and i could imagine seeing this pop up earlier in the morning that was s interesting. >> thank you. >> thank you for the book. asle you mentioned so that you believe the democratic party

in recent years doubled up the system and they are implementing it with the tone that they control and then but then i know for so they use she a but then they are using it especially the school system but then with all the republicans they say it doesn't but then eventually

how to win. >> let me reply. i don't disagree with most of what youle said it but what about that nationwide conspiracy? that let alone that type of operation but then to use that educational system to indoctrinate. absolutely go it is a

different fight. it's a fight we should now the that the whole idea to not show your identification to vote that somehow the thing it is discriminatory. i went to new york city but then i walked up to the security guard he said it so amazing to see you in such a big fan and says can i take a picture? sure. gives out his phone and then prints out my visitor pass. can you a sign this? >> so i have had a graph quick. >>yo yes.

[laughter] so i see you are convinced enough by me that you took a picture with me but yet to give you okay i got my wallet and drivers license but if i have to do that to answer the office building in manhattan why should ifi have to. >> i am a bad example because i walked in here they don't know me it's a problem. but ias think everybody should shut should have to show 90

because the counties update their voter rolls. we knock out a lot of dead people to eat years as governor has to be constant process they are in much better shape than they were before and lastly, they will continue to be a factor in a a store republicans but they would call for five times. did you mailing your ballot and then a text then the e-mail. now it is a drag out.

they drag the votes out of those houses. there is no reason we can't do that. no reason. same technology. i have done both but that part is at a disadvantage. but i was at an event one week beforebr the election and i was at aai fundraising event for john and a woman raised her hand and asked a question about and i said but if jack

is readyow for tuesday it's because we have to do want us we don't know how to do mail and ballot initiative. it turns out i was exactly right. and 75000 results. but the bigger point your point is we have a bunch of things we have to do to continue tod be a competitive and viable party so looking in the rearview mirror never helps you win the next one. ever. voters don't want to hear about that. that's not why they vote for you. the last story was running for reelection right after sandy may be built there is a lot on

the boardwalk a guy says your running for reelection why should a vote for you? he said that's how i got to vote for t the last time what about next time? voters think about tomorrow. but that is good and shows we are a hopeful country we think tomorrow can be better than yesterday we don't't want to dwell on that. so stop the moaning and complaining f and find them in the places that you fight fight to do better on the mail-in ballots and fight with the voter rolls take those things out of play and then our ideaso. versus their ideas. by the way in the election we

picked up 60 in the assembly and a lot of local seats except for the top of the ticket election day which is very good for republicans sentence a very clear message to the legislative democrats he will be much more but right now we have a map. think about this when i was reelected in 2013, i had 60 percent of the vote and then to get 60 percent of the

vote. that w will everything that we need. >> thank you. >> one last question but it has to be a short answer. [laughter] >> we will see. [laughter] >> i i definitely don't. >> there are two guys there. i willti do these three with a will be short answers. so looking forward especially the midterms next year and 24, how do youal think the republican party that unites itself nationally with a section of the party that would like to see a new face

in 24 and sooner and another as to lakes president trump. so s is oh my god, what are they doing? we have to stop them. and republicans are willing to put down some of their differences. in order to stop that. the second piece is that we've got to start talking about the things that voters care about. elections aren't about the about what the candidate thinks is important. they're about what the voters think are important and what that candidate thinks about what the voters think is important. and so part of what we need to

do is to get ourselves back into that mode of thinking. and and we haven't been we've been yelling and complaining and screaming about things that most of the voters didn't care about and they sent us a very clear message. not once but twice in 18 and 20. so we need to listen. thank you. how was that? all right. i'll try to make it fairly quick. okay, you know needless to say having him having been in public figure. i think everyone was long wear of president trump's foibles and personality quirks and whatnot. but one thing that i think has made people loyal to him is the fact that he came in saying i will do certain things and by and large he did them. and i would say that as someone who's typically generally voted republican. i've often been disappointed by my party in terms of failure to

keep promises made during the campaign so, you know too often we're talked to we will do this. and then nothing is done and except for the fact that you know, if you look at trump, he made a he he fixed a skating rink in new york after six years of nonsense. he he built the golf club on a dump in a short period of time. he started building a wall when no wall was ever built he moved the the embassy in israel to the capital of israel when it had been said this will happen this will happen and so, you know, we're looking if somebody's going to be a a more acceptable alternative to the foibles and personality problems. then we though want somebody who is still going to do what he says. yeah. i don't know why our party has

often disappointed us. well, if you talk to democrats, they'll say the same thing. and and there'd be a bunch of democrats who will say that as well. so i don't think it's unique to our party. but what i will say is look in the main i agreed with the things that president trump tried to do. there's some things where we differ, but they're not hugely significant things. here's where i part company with it. you can't stand up. behind the seal the president united states in the east room of the white house at 2:30 am on election night. tell the american people that the election was stolen and not present any evidence to support that. the words of the president united states matter more than the words of a new york real estate developer. he continued to talk like he was in new york real estate developer when he was the president of the united states. and the american people want to believe what the president tells them any president?

whether you voted for them or not. you want to believe what he said it would have been like barack obama standing up that night in april. of 2012 and saying osama. bin laden is dead. and then he wasn't. what will we have thought at that moment? that's something of enormous gravity to the american people like an election. after what bin laden did to this country the idea that someone would say that he had been killed, but he wasn't. would have been something that we were never accept in the context of a president. saying that an election was stolen and not presenting any evidence to back that up. here we are 13 months later. he's still saying the same thing. to me that creates a huge. credibility problem that diminishes what you just talked about? and i said this to the president the saturday after the election. said if you don't either present

the evidence that it was stolen now. or can see the election. you are going to diminish your legacy. in a way that will damage you personally and damage the party for a long time. and so i agree with you that there are many things. he said he would do that. he got done. there were a number of things. he said he would do that. he didn't get done but you could say that about anybody who gets elected to office. but election night was the to me a line. that made it impossible for me. to say that's okay. because it's just not. and we all get into this business knowing that we can win or lose. and sometimes you think it isn't fair. i've lost elections. i thought weren't fair. that's the deal. you stand up. like an adult and you say i think that was fair. but the votes we counted the

people have spoken. and i'll live to fight another day. and that's where i think the divide is now and that was not something that was not necessary to do. and not welcoming the bidens to the white house. inaugural morning not going to the inauguration. look you think hillary clinton? wanted to be sitting there on january of 2017 at donald trump's inaugural. you think al gore? wanted to be sitting there. 2001 at george w. bush's inaugural you know anything george bush 41. want to be sitting there at bill clinton's inaugural? i am confident. would have rather have had elective root canal. they've been sitting there, but they went and not only did they go they welcomed. the victor to the white house and said this is the way we do it in this country.

it's a peaceful transfer of power. where the vanquished? congratulate the victor. and we leave with grace and dignity. he didn't do any of that. and i think it's diminished him. and it diminished our country in the process. you can still say i don't think it's fair outgore fought like crazy against george w bush for 34 days in court all the way the us supreme court. but with the us supreme court ruled even though al gore lost five to four. he didn't say hello that i'm not listening to the supreme court, and i'm not moving out of the naval observatory. i'm staying. i'm still the vice president. you know, he could see it. he went out he welcomed. bush to the naval observatory they met and they showed the country that this is the way we operate. and that's why we've operated in the main. for the last 250 years. and i think that's one that the president should have done much differently.

thanks, governor governor big supporter my wife and i drove up from the shore just to be here and we're glad we did would love to see you as our candidate in 2024, but going back to your point a little while ago about how your own constituents felt about trump and not wanting to hear that voice. i worked for a company that's based in the midwest and i spent a lot of time out there. there's a lot of good right thinking people out there, but when it comes to new yorkers or anybody from the northeast, they're like we don't really get them. we really don't want to you know, and we talk too fast. we don't give a chance to hear what we're saying to them and they took a chance on trump. and they feel they got burnt. how would somebody like you overcome what's become a bias against the northeast. thanks to donald. well, i would say to you that the they did take a chance on trump in some parts of the midwest. and other quiet places they didn't. i could tell you you know when i was in, iowa. spread the decent amount of time

there in 2015. there is definitely you got to come uphill a little bit. if you come for the northeast. and you have a vowel at the end of your name? it's a little tough, you know. but i think that you know for any of us. our own authenticity has to be what we rely upon. you know, there are plenty of people because believe me i see social media. there's plenty of people don't like me. that's okay. you know, that's their right. but i even the people who don't like me. most of them don't call me a phony. they have gotten to know me and don't like me. okay. that's fine. that's their call. it's politics. but i think that we can't. back away from authenticity and i think quite frankly that one

of the reasons trump got elected. was because people said all right. look. may not say everything the way i'd like to say it, but man, i think he means it. and i think that's who he is. and and as a result, some people were willing to a chance on him. based upon that authenticity so i still think the single most important thing in a candidate. is authenticity and you can tell when they're not. you know you look at certain candidates. and i ran against a bunch of them in 2016. he's looking. oh, yeah, no chance. you know, they're they're sitting there trying to think of what the answer should be. and try to figure out what it is you want to hear? and then give it back to you. and the american people are proving themselves in the main to be a lot smarter than that. and so i think the only way to overcome any of any bias. northeastern bites against the southern candidate mm-hmm, you know, there's no doubt that exists, you know, talk about a weird accent.

you know, they think we have one look at them. but there's always going to be that buys i think. you know certain candidates overcome that with with their approach their personality their authenticity. that's all we can rely on. i know i said only three but then this good moment stood up and i certainly yeah. yeah. she's the only woman who stood up. i'm certainly i am not telling her to sit down and i'm leaving. alright, no chance if i got to get in trouble with this woman not to get trouble with that woman. i'm okay with that. thank you for indulging me. no problem. thank you you for getting up. so i i do. and i did vote for biden. i will say that. but i think what people need to understand is that biden was a placeholder. he was a viable candidate to trump and that was really it it wasn't because people were so in love with biden and that's partly what biden is struggling now because he's also the independence.

he's going way over to the left and everyone's like what the hell are you doing? you know truly that's how a lot of us are feeling. i'm so glad c-span's here to see this. go ahead. keep going. no, it's fine. i'm glad to say it because i really i really feel like i feel even the majority of biden voters are feeling that way. but my question to you is you i think at this point represent a minority. to some extent of your party that come in someone that's standing up to the and conspiracies and so forth and i'm wondering if donald trump and his minions so to speak start going after you. they have and what are you going to do? how are you going to react because i would much rather see you on the ballot than well, thank you. i here look i'll react like a you all have watched me long time. morris county even longer than new jersey and certainly new jersey longer than the country. i'll give you the president attacked me a week or so ago. and and talked about my approval rating when i left, new jersey when i left the governorship. now.

look my approval rating was bad enough when i left. he made it worse. he lied about it to make it worse. like i thought to myself why didn't you just tell the truth? he was really bad when i left so you could have just used the the real number and it would have been terrible. and and my response to him was well, i don't know. donald when i ran for reelection, i got 60% of the vote when you ran you lost a joe biden. that's what i'll do. i mean look. donald trump has never gotten in a fight with me. i believe because he knows i know how to fight back. he fights in the mane with people. can't fight back. and and you'll notice if you remember back to the 16 race, i was like one of the only guys or women on stage. that didn't get a nickname. well energy jab little marco lions ted. crazy john, you know i didn't get one.

um, and i'm susceptible to any number of nicknames that clearly could have thought of. and let me see something about what you said about your vote for biden. you know. i said this to trump in 2017 mary pat was there. we went for lunch with the president. on valentine's day 2017 office three weeks and he called and invited us to come down and have lunch with him. he wasn't exactly my idea of valentine's day, you know meal but i got to bring mary i got to bring you so it was okay. and and he said to me. like look around. can you believe i'm here, you know, and he was showing me the oval officer and i was like, well, yeah sure you won and we sat down to talk about it at lunch and i said to him remember something. you didn't win this election. she lost it. i see that mr. president doesn't matter. because your hand was on the bible on january 20th, you're

sleeping upstairs. you're sitting in this office. it doesn't matter. but now you need to make the next four years about you. so that you because you'll be the one being judged for years from now. and i said the same thing happened to me. and what i want to know nine. i didn't win. john corzine lost i mean, i'm not a big enough ego maniac to think that everybody went. oh my god. what i really want is chris christie. they went. oh my god. i don't want john corson anymore. is this guy reasonable? and i like biden looked like the reasonable alternative. to someone that they had already rejected. so i understand exactly what you mean. and by the way, that's how trump got elected in 16 in my opinion. hillary clinton this is demonstrated by the polling data on election day. was the single most unpopular presidential candidate on election day? in american history by the way,

the second most unpopular presidential candidate on election date american history was donald trump. but a little better than her. and so he won now when we when i told him that mary pad will tell he got so --. i won. i won in a landslide that's outrageous that she didn't lose. i beat her. i'm like look. you can think that. but it's just not true and you shouldn't be upset about it. don't get upset. i said like i felt the same way. i know that i course. i lost i didn't win but what i did mr. president was every day. i went to my campaign manager the day after the election in '09. 'cause we won with 48 and a half percent of the vote in a three-way race. i looked at i said. every day from here on out. your job is to figure out how we build that coalition what i need to do to convince as many of the

51 and a half percent of the people who didn't vote for me to vote for me next time. if donald trump had done that. he'd still be in the white house today. instead what he did? was decided just to play to his base. and when that happens in a close election you don't bring the country together. you wind up going down? and it's your right again. it's exactly what's happened to joe biden right now. joe biden promised to be united and to bring the country together. and return it to normalcy. and then he comes in and he goes way left. to the base of his party. the exact same mistake that trump made and doesn't try to bring the country together and bring more people in. remember in in 2013 when i got reelected. i got 51% of the latino vote. i got 29% of the african-american vote.

four years earlier i'd gotten 11% of the african-american vote and 33% of the latino vote. that didn't happen. by miracle it's because we worked every day to reach out to those folks who didn't vote for us. ask them why. and try to deal with the issues they were concerned about. so i absolutely agree with you independence of abandoned biden for the moment because biden abandon them first. they didn't leave him. he left them. they're standing in the middle of the country going. where the hell joe biden go. he's all the way over there. with elizabeth warren and bernie sanders the democratic rejected elizabeth warren and bernie sanders and and kamala harris because they were too liberal. they nominated the 78 year old guy. for two reasons he was in the middle and they wanted to beat trump.

and they knew those other ones couldn't. so i don't understand why this is so complicated. i really don't and maybe i'm just getting too old. and i've seen too much. but it's pretty simple on how to try to govern and win this country. and winning is the hardest part but once you get there. whether it's the power of a governorship. or the power of the presidency you have the ability. to be able to bring people together. you just have to decide to do it. and i'm disappointed that trump didn't. disappointed that biden isn't and i think the american people said the pretty clear signal in 2020. they're probably gonna have to send send it again in 2024. that we want someone who is going to bring the country together. tired of being divided tired of not being able to go to a cocktail party and have a conversation about politics.

we're tired of people yelling at us because we have a bumper sticker on our car. we're tired of people giving us a hard time because of what we believe. and when i grew up in politics that wasn't the way it was. and i think we can bring it back. this book is an effort. start with my own party. it's always easy for me to lecture democrats, right? why don't you run as an independent? well, right and my point is you could probably win right? i mean because let the sides go to the sides and you have little candidate is gonna win. that's right. what you what you need to as a republican. start with your own party. and and and start with you talking to them about these. and look either i'll convince people or i won't. but that's what this business is all about. they should say when i was governor all the time when the press would say to me. well the polls. say this if i'd say to them well my job is to change polls not to

follow polls. if you are a persuasive leader. your job is to change polls not to follow them. so, you know, i hope that that's what this book starts to do. i know this much at least it started a conversation rupert murdoch gave his speech three days. later. at the news corp cheryl's meeting where he said donald trump is wrong. the election wasn't stolen we have to stop talking about it. we're gonna fight for the future and we have to stop worrying about the past if trump doesn't stop talking about it that he can't be a part of the future. well if the head of fox news is saying that we may be starting to get someplace. so that's why i did the book. and that's why we started the conversation. and i'm glad you were the last question because i think that's a great place for us to end. i want to say one thing besides. thanking my wife not only for tonight, but for putting up with me for the last 35 years.

is that this place? is really special to us. we've been here 30 years. and we've been made to feel welcome here for all 30 years that we've been here. when we were brand new. you know residents with no children and nobody knew who we were. to being a freeholder. and then being the governor that had those suvs idling outside of every place for eight years all around town with the guys with the wires in their ears at least for that time. you lived in the safest town in new jersey and guarantee that there's no problem there. you definitely lived in the safest place but through all those ups and downs. you know there were times that were difficult. and when they have those difficult times of public life and you come home. you want to not have to worry about going out at home? and i can tell you that when things were great. everybody here was great too, but when things weren't great everybody here was great, too.

even when they disagreed with me. they didn't in a way that was respectful of the fact that we're one of you. and so, you know, we thank you for that because you provided us a community. to raise all four of our children. in a way that we wanted to and when they were in the public spotlight you made it better not worse. you didn't make them feel different. and that on the soccer fields or on the little league fields, or are the football fields. you guys made them feel like they were just four more kids. in mendham and that made our lives a lot easier. so thank you for coming tonight and thank you for all of that. i appreciate it. thank you governors. thank you governor. thank yo