chris christie the former governor of new jersey and one time g.o.p. rival of donald trump on the busy politics. for the politicking on larry king he says more americans are going to die no matter what the u.s. does about call the 19 the challenge is deciding how to balance the situation so where's the balance find out was chris christie former republican governor of new jersey one time g.o.p. rival of donald trump who went on to serve as head of trump's transition team he joins us from new jersey governor thank you and the united states has about 4.5 percent of the world's population but 29 percent of coronavirus deaths how do you account for that i think a few things are a 1st off it's great to be back on with you i would say this but that 1st

off i think we're the most transparent society in the world so i think we're giving accurate information all the time it don't you can say that about the chinese the north koreans the russians i'm i know they were getting accurate information from them and i can't imagine that the chinese don't have more coronavirus cases that us but the other thing too is larry we were a little bit slow to react here there's no question about that that you know i was advocating in early march to shut down it really didn't happen for another 2 weeks after that you look at your state where you are right now california they shut down sooner than anybody else and i think as a result i'm they've gone through this a little bit better than anybody else especially relative to their population so they were a little slow at the beginning and also the other places are being nearly as honest as we are back. in a washington post op ed last month you wrote the grim reality is that additional lives will be lost as we reopen our country. how many it that's easy to it isn't

easy cause were alive but that's tough to face as an i government it is tough to face our bill let me tell you what else is going to happen if we don't open up we're going to lose a lot of lives as well which is already seeing the statistics across the country larry increasing depression increasing domestic violence increasing drug addiction increase in suicide you know working people in this country larry they need to go back to work not just because financially what it does but what it does for their self-esteem every day and if we are going to lose a lot of people a lot of people if we don't let people get back to work we can never risk a situation here and we certainly can't wait for a vaccine there a because a vaccine may never come we're still waiting for the sars vaccine we're still waiting for the h when it seemed right so americans are smart and they know there's going to be some risk but also larry we're going to act differently than we acted pre the shutdown people will wear masks people will wash their hands frequently they will

sanitize hard surfaces they will socially distance we're not going to be shaking hands or high 5 ing or hugging people for a long time and so i think there will be changes in that way as well which will make the infection rate that's that it was pretty shocked them we may never shake hands again right we may not make the president really happy it was his hands any. human happiness the program or all one he was a general so what i had 1st met i'm sure absolutely and only when he got into politics the start shaking hands. that going to early module and or state shutdowns to flatten the curve because she said it was the right thing to do and the economic consequences of the shutdown has been worse than you expected. a little bit worse than expected although i expected it to be pretty bad but also larry we needed to do that at that time because we didn't need to flatten the curve because for the biggest reason was because our health care systems were become overwhelmed and then

you start tree arching care and making choices about who lives and who dies and americans don't want to be put in that position so we did it but remember it was to flatten the curve not to find a cure it was the flatten the curve we've done that and now we need to go back to work to what we need to work and it will be to him we'll do it better this time and we are just continue to listen to folks who say you know until it's perfectly safe well then we should reduce the speed limit to 25 miles an hour to harry i mean you know there's there's risks we take every day in this country to do things the way we want to do them you wrote in the washington post that americans now understand the importance of wearing masks trump very public refusal to wear on mask what do you make of that i don't stand the president being in groups of people i'm not wearing a mask it's a mistake and i said it when vice president pence went out to a clinic and didn't wear masks that he should he's now started to wear masks since

then and i think the president should wear when to when he's around other people now he'll argue that he's probably the only person americans has that every day so he knows whether he has the virus or not but the fact of the matter is i think he should wear a mask and i wish he would also in the washington post here declare that now is the time for honestly telling our citizens as f.d.r. did in 42 that preserving our country in our cars will not be without sacrifice do you think as a people we are prepared for that. yes i believe the american people look at what they've been doing for the last 10 weeks larry for the most part this country has voluntarily shut itself down the last 10 weeks people have lost their businesses they've lost an enormous amount of money and there has been great as we talked about before mental health effects but the american people did it because they thought that's what was in the best interest of the country and now as the best

interest of the country are going to be for reopening the country the american people will understand that there's going to be risk involved with that they'll be smart about it and by the way larry the most vulnerable folks you know folks who are older folks who have underlying health conditions they're going to have to stay in for the most part because they're most at risk of really getting this virus in a way that could end their wives frankly and i know you're in the republican party has the trump leadership lean to much to be desired here. i listen i think it was a little slow in the beginning ari and i think that in the beginning he didn't take it as seriously as he could have i think though starting around the time he gave his oval office speech in the middle of march i think the president has followed what the medical experts have asked him to do in fact in the curve he's taken any historical steps in trying to give a safety net under people for the economic concerns and i think now he's leading

correctly to try to get the country reopened and so in the beginning i think it was a little bit slow but overall i think the president has gotten to it and i think he's doing a good job congress has already passed close to 3 trillion dollars in a car a coronavirus relief the democratic controlled house approved another 3 turn in republican controlled senate has no action schedule what he what do you think we should do. we're going to have to do something but 3 trillions out of control and i think that we haven't even distributed the 1st 3 trillion yet in the hole so i do think it's smart to take the time to see how that's going to work but i do think you're going to have to literally provide some aid to the states to continue them to make up the revenue they've lost not to make up for past sins but to make up for the revenue that they've lost and i do think we're going to need to give some more help to folks out there who are really struggling terms unemployment benefits and worker retraining what do we need more a though of trained trunnion was not preaching was fired me i think we should do

one trillion more. you know i think i think that we're going to get much closer to that number than the 3 larry and i think some of that's going to have to go to the states to help them some is going to continue to have to go to our health care system and then some it's going to have to go to people who are the most injured during this to keep a roof over their heads to keep food on their tables it is a sin in this country larry to have the number of people we have right now standing at food bank lines it's heartbreaking there's a there's a woman outside atlantic city who is in the new york times a week or so ago who has been working since she was 15 years old she's now 54 and she said so 1st time i've ever been to food bank lot of my life i feel like a failure that woman has a failed in anything and we need to get her back to work making much me i'm so she's. housed in jersey dylan. 2nd worst in the country larry.

we have the 2nd most deaths the 2nd most cases just behind new york and that's for a few reasons i think part of it is we as you know being from the area with her bedroom community to new york city lot of people work in manhattan in the boroughs every day and travel back home to live in new jersey i'm so a lot of that commuting in those packed shorts i'm sure conveyed a lot of this virus early on. second we did not act quickly to close here you know princeton university closed the 4th larry and they even bought airline tickets for the students who couldn't afford it that's an urgent they thought it was the campus yet we did jersey for not for 2 weeks i think really look back on it that's going to have been a mistake and 3rd the biggest mistake is i'm nursing homes we ordered nursing homes to take over 1000 patients and so $54.00 protests in new jersey over $5000.00 people have dollar homes larry in veterans homes that's unacceptable and i think

that's what's made us the 2nd worst in the country sad president trump predicts the arest united states will have an incredibly strong 4th quarter economic growth and a phenomenal comeback and 2021 what it what does he base that on. i think he's looking at what the fundamentals were before all this larry and saying that this was an artificial circumstance it wasn't an economic downturn it was caused by this by this virus and so i think he looks at it and says putting it the virus under control those economic circumstances in the main will go back to where they were. you know that i fear we present that was our goal what i'm said he wished he had a one armed economist so the economists can say on the one hand this but on the other hand that and i think you oculus are known for that and nobody really knows for sure what's going to happen but part of the president's job is to be optimistic and to try to put forward an optimistic vision of the future to give the people

this country hope and i think that's part of what the president's doing holy move on to other things what do you know now well a number of different things 1st of all been staying at home for the last 910 weeks now larry are 2 older children moved back to the city to move in with us and so all 6 of us are back home and the silver lining in all of this is been you know we've had more dinners together in the last 10 weeks that we had 10 years before that even me being governor that's been great and you know i am still serving up boards i'm doing my work for a.b.c. as you know as a commentator and i have a consulting firm that's trying to help with strategic consulting and crisis consulting so we've got some business going on right now given the crisis we're in . well i'm more with former governor chris christie right after these words. which.

was no no crowd. no shots. back shoes belt. strap no 1st. point sure your thirst for action. when i was told small seemed wrong when all was just don't call. me the world is yet to shape our disdain to become educated and in gains from it because the trail. points on many find themselves worlds apart we choose to look for common ground.

is your media a reflection of reality. in a world transformed. what will make you feel safe. tyson nation or community. are you going the right way or are you being led. by. what is true what is faith. in a world corrupted you need to descend. to join us in the depths. or remain in the shallows. and stand there while the art united states has been the unbelievable winner at the core more geographic macroeconomic gambling casino with the world reserve currency

and really smart intelligent financial engineers and i'll stop for engineers but that. has run up and that's my thought is that this pandemic has exposed incredible one abilities in the united states and the united kingdom and that's going to be painful it's going to be a very painful next 10 to 15. welcome back to politicking guest chris christie former republican governor of new jersey one time g.o.p. rival of donald trump who went on just served as head of trump's transition team he joins us from new jersey earlier this month in a unanimous ruling the u.s. supreme court tossed out the federal government's case in the so-called bridge gate scandal clearing the convictions of 2 people who work for you said that the governor that the government have done poorly but it wasn't unconstitutional what

do you make it out ruling. well larry it was vindication i told you when i was with you a year ago on my book tour that that's what i thought the u.s. supreme court was going to do and the research for that is this was a vindictive political prosecution by a prosecutor in the obama justice department who was looking to take me out and didn't care which people in my ministry she hurt what the supreme court said that decision ari was that the law was clear that these actions while stupid were not a crime and certainly not a federal crime and that the prosecutor should have known that at the time and i believe he did know that at the time the right he went home he went forward because he was on a political mission on a vindictive mission and when you lose 9 nothing before this supreme court that's been so divided that tells you just bad that conduct was ok but the court said and did indicate abuse of power what is the he did he for abuse of power invention not constitutional what's the remedy you fire him larry you fire them which is exactly

what i did as soon as i found out about what they did they were fired and publicly they were shamed by that firing and you know not everything wrong in life is criminal and that was wrong what they did wrong and they were fired but they did not belong in federal prison there and what this prosecutor did was unconscionable you know one of these folks went to jail for 3 months larry before the supreme court actually granted search you are in this case and the trial judge then released him but he served 3 months in jail for a crime that didn't exist that's that's unconscious cuter should not be doing that and this prosecutor should be held to account for what he did. speaking of crimes that don't exist trump keeps talking about obama gate and he said everybody knows what it is you know what it is no i don't know yet but you know listen i think there's an investigation going on by john durham regarding what went on with the

russia investigation. and the conduct of the f.b.i. regarding general flynn let's let him do the investigation i said this the president all along is the time during the investigation any ukraine investigation mr president if you did nothing wrong that will come out in the end but you've got to let the process work but we know our friend the president larry he's not always the most peace and fellow in the world so his and i don't know any you know i don't see it yet and apparently i read today larry that attorney general barton see it yet either so you know i don't see it but you know we'll let investigation go on and see where it leads and every vestige issue should be given its chance to find the facts but we should be have a pre-determined outcome larry that's not what america is and it never should be trouble once called bush george bush the 2nd the washed president we have a had now in cos obama the worst day he has been on obama forever and sist and that

is an all girl crowds were bigger than ounce in obama's grossly incompetent you can agree with that. listen i didn't vote for president obama either time you know i voted for john mccain and i voted for and i voted for mitt romney but what i will tell you though larry is that this is who the president is you know this you've known him for 40 years right i don't for 20 years this is who he is he is at root a salesman he's somebody who selling his point of view and pushing it all the time and there's hyperbole involved in that and so do i think brock obama's the worst president in history no no i think that james buchanan definitely beats of our. friend logotheti was in hi ira piers was not a great one either larry or exactly right so you know but in the end this is who i always get surprised i would people act surprised about this stuff this is the way

donald trump has been his whole life and all the years i've known him and certainly that's the way he campaigns for president remember at one of his debates hillary said something like well we're glad some of like donald trump is not in charge of our criminal justice system and he said i'm sure that because you'd be in jail he said those things during the campaign and people voted for him so oh this is who he is and you just have to take his words at times without understanding so why then do many a like yourself in the republican party seem to make excuses for him. i don't make excuses for america i just that was in the excuse that was an explanation i want people to understand but also i agree in the main with the president's policies and in the end what i vote for a president the biggest thing i'm concerned about is his political philosophy and what direction he will take the country in and i like the fiscal policies of the

president has pursued i like the military policies the president has pursued and so as a result you know i supported him in 2016 and i'm going to be supporting him again in 2020 speaking of that give me your overview of that of the next campaign biden and trump well larry i think right now it's a referendum on donald trump right now i don't think joe biden met matters in the least and that's not being negative about joe biden i just think right now with all the focus on coronavirus response that people are going to decide whether they agree with how the president's doing it or not and that will determine a lot of people's votes the challenge for the president is going to be to make this a 2 person race a referendum is never good for anybody but if it's a 2 person race and the president can compare him self to vice president biden then i think the president has a legitimate chance to be reelected a referendum is much tougher because the other guy doesn't have to do anything just has to be there so right now i think it's

a referendum but i think the president's going to be moving towards trying to turn it into a head to head race and when he does i think he has a good chance to beat the vice president is that he's more in step philosophically where the american people are so the pandemic in your opinion will be an issue it will be the biggest issue. it will be the biggest issue larry bigger than any other issue now what we can't tell right now because it's still 5 months away is exactly how big and what else will intervene but you've watched american politics your whole life larry something else will intervene it won't knock the pandemic off the screen but it'll make sure the pandemic has to share some space with something else but i don't have a crystal ball so i can't figure out which one that's going to be or do you think of him making fun of joe biden though but it changes only 5 years old on trump and about his sleeping calling him sleeping job i mean that's not very classy now

again. to remember that this is the same guy who called joe low energy jeb and little marco lion ted cruz and you know crazy john k. sic so and crooked hillary right so this is the way the president campaigns this is who he is and so we can expect it's going to be any different with joe biden and i will say this that when vice president biden has been out there larry he certainly has been a source of the tongue and other things that have made some of his opponents on the democratic side say some of the same kind of things about him and i've led some people to be a little concerned about you know how vigorous a campaigner the vice pres is going to be able to be so we're going to see but that's the great thing about a presidential campaign as you know larry is if the brightest lights in the world and whatever is out there for us to know i think we're going to worry a lot about both of these guys over the next 5 months and they get to make a decision in november let's talk about you know what are you coming back to

politics. i can't imagine that i won't at some point marry i love being in public service a lot i'm enjoying my time in the private sector right now we've got 2 more kids to put through college so we have to go out there and make some money to be able to get them through college but i can't imagine that at 57 years old i'm done with public service and the political life i enjoy it too much and i think i have a lot to offer so we'll see i don't know how that will happen there in what in i don't have a plan yet but we'll have a plan it will be ready to go after this election in november we're both big sports fans and thinks march is coming back i do i do this sports are coming back for 2 reasons i think one that conditions are going to get better and will allow the athletes to be able to play against each other safely but also i think the sports leagues understand the unique role that they play in the american way of life and

you and i were talking before we got on today about the fact that we're both sick of watching reruns of things that we've already seen another result of you know. it's nice that but i'd like some current sports on to i think it will help the psyche of the country so i think the sports lead for all the money that the american people give to the sports leagues tickets and t.v. rights and souvenirs and all those things that but to the american people to find a way to get back to work so they can give us some entertainment because i think the american people really need that and love having some of the same things back you think well i finished the baseball season with a play but empty stands. i think that baseball maybe larry if we got to the postseason we might be able to have some fans in the postseason but i think when we begin the summer we will not and i'm finally in the n.f.l. are they going to have a season. well i believe they will i think it's going be very hard to not have an

n.f.l. season but. but we are we think that there may be some fans in the stands by then i think there might be some expire then to be able to have some folks in the stands and hopefully will be able to do that. are one more thing press corps going like this year and the national football league. larry you know i'm the dallas cowboys fan and we help line the game from a well roger star back is what maybe a scout with oh my god i fell in love with captain america and became a fan of america's team ever since then but you know we got see the lamb from oklahoma their great wide receiver in the draft this is going to be a team that's good with him and was eagerly prescott this is going to distance get a lot of points on the board very i think you might be seeing the return of america seems 2020 are they heard it thanks again governor always great talking to you

larry is always an honor and a pleasure to be on the show with you and be interviewed by you is being interviewed by real pro my friend so thank you very much we thank governor christie for his time today and we thank you for joining me on this edition of politicking remember you can join the conversation on my facebook page or tweet me at king's sayings and don't forget to use the politicking hash tag and that's all for this edition of politicking.

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