chris christie apologized to the people of new jersey. he did not specifically apologize to the children who were stuck in traffic in their school buses in ft. lee, new jersey, thanks to the actions of chris christie's staff. maybe even with chris christie's own approval and maybe not. and he did not say that he felt sorry for the children trapped in those school buses, but he clearly does feel sorry, mostly for himself. '. >> i'm sad. i'm sad. that's the predominant emotion i feel right now. is sadness. sadness that i was betrayed by a member of my staff, sadness that i had people who i entrusted with important jobs who acted completely inappropriately. sad that that's led the people of new jersey to haveless confidence in the people that i've selected. >> to have less confidence in the people that i've selected? how about less confidence in the person who selected those people who wrote those vile e-mails to each other, explaining that there was no reason to feel sorry for the kids on those school buses because they were not children of

might look like using chris christie's own words. like what they saw and they cited that 30-second video as one of their grievances against this network in a press release on saturday in response to the brilliant reporting by steve on his program saturday morning including his interview with the mayor of hoboken in which the mayor said this. >> the fact is the lieutenant governor came to hoboken, pulled me aside in the parking lot and said i know this is not right and i know this shouldn't be connected but they are. and if you tell anyone, i'll deny it. so the bottom line is it's not fair for the governor to hold sandy funds host anl for the ci city of hoboken because he wants me to give back to one private developer. >> team christie's press release in response to steve kornacki's reporting could not have been longer and could not have been stranger. it essentially amounted to a complaint about this network's coverage of the affairs of state in new jersey and some quotes from positive things the mayor of hoboken had to say about gov

and they said all of this coverage is actually softening them to chris christie. and you mentioned that this might actually win christie sympathy from the very people who would desperately like to get voting for him in 2016. what would you tell democrats like van who maybe run the risk of going too far against christie to drum up, you know, hatred and vitriol when in fact -- well, when in fact this might turn far right republican on to him. >> you know, people are threatened bthreaten ed by hillary but think christie is out there. they think the reason we're going after him is because of that so they're naturally going to come and support him more. but i think that nothing will change the outcome if these hearings show that this came closer to his office than he said. that he really had other aides -- i mean after all, it took him four months to get to this point of actually firing two aides. when, you know, his entire office was covering this up four months ago. so, you know, nothing will help him if real bad facts come out. and if no facts more than what's come o

. >>> tonight, chris christie's donors are worried, and the first national poll on chris christie since the bridge scandal broke turns out to be very, very good news for hillary clinton. >> 4 in 10 veoters say christie is a bully. >> we has a nation remain stuck in the news traffic jam. >> chris christie's jersey jam. >> come on! >> chris christie and the problems he's had. >> he's a good politician. he's great at defending himself. >> simultaneously, his political career could be finished. >> that's the problem with christie. it's out of his hands. >> in terms of vetting, in terms of the department of justice investigations. >> he has a long road ahead. >> i have had no contact with david wildstein in a long time. >> so we see that wall street journal picture. >> appearing to interact with wildstein on september 11, 2013, the third day of the lane closures themselves. >> decisions for key players come as early as tomorrow. >> when they testify, what's going to be his position then? >> if you want to talk about salt in the wound, there's this. ♪ i was with pissed off drivers ♪ ♪ with no

hillary clinton holds a 13-point lead over chris christie in that poll. month ago in the same poll, it was a statistical tie. with hillary clinton only three points ahead of christie, which is within the margin of error of the poll. chris christie plans to meet in florida this weekend with potential donors to his presidential campaign. one of them, stan hubbard, a billionaire from minnesota, told politico tonight, he's got a big problem, because perception is everything. perception is reality. i'm sure he's an honorable, decent guy, but i wonder how the hell did he let this happen? i mean, who did he hire? what kind of idiot? it's just ridiculous how stupid. today, rush limbaugh chided republicans who still cling to the hope that chris christie will be the next republican nominee for president. >> i'm not convinced yet that hillary is going to be the nominee. but the thing that gets me here is that, we're going to go back to the same well, we're going to go back another northeastern, moderate republican who has tried to make his bones on the basis of work

this news broke shortly after chris christie was sworn in for a second term. in an impressive speech christie rose above the bridge scandal at least for today. >> okay, newt. here we go. you guys can try to posh this up. i think the republican party is in real trouble tonight. during the shutdown they say we have these strong governors. now we have governors in trouble. in the "crossfire" we have democratic strategist brad woodhouse and republican ken cuccinelli. let's go to you. you have worked very closely with governor mcdonnell. a lot of people said his troubles held you back in terms of your own race to be the governor. what is your reaction to the indictments tonight? >> certainly they cause challenges for us all of us in virginia. we talk about virginia and new jersey tonight. we like to think of a etpretty smooth running clean state. doesn't mean it goes the way we want it to all the time. this puts a dent in that. i agree with newt's comments especially when i see a first lady indicted. i want to see more of the details. feds not sharing the details of

chris christie?licans would be smart to move to a center right candidate, but that's 23409 where the republican primary electorate is. and i don't think they were going to be there. so i don't think this has changed christie's odds of being the nominee that much. i don't think they were high to begin with. >> david corn, i completely agree with all of that. i've never seen a way for chris christie to get the republican nomination. but now, i'm starting to doubt whether he can even mount a campaign. >> well, you know, i think we all agree here. i mean, chris christie was the candidate for karl rove and the koch brothers and the funding community. the funding base of the republican party. the gravitational pull of the republican voting electoral has moved so far to the right that chris christie by talking about bipartisanship as we just saw him would almost disqualify himself in a lot of states. in iowa, in south carolina, throughout the south. and, you know, i think there was a way he might have been

chris christie fired his campaign manager last week based on just the tone of his e-mails, but chris personal chairman of the port authority in that job when his e-mails reveal a much more ominous tone, much more disturbing tone. david samson should be the next resignation demanded by chris christie. but he should not be the last. >> i am embarrassed and humiliated by the conduct of some of the people on my team. u. you stopped by the house? uh-huh. yea. alright, whenever you get your stuff, run upstairs, get cleaned up for dinner. you leave the house in good shape? yea. yea, of course. ♪ [ sportscaster talking on tv ] last-second field go-- yea, sure ya did. [ male announcer ] introducing at&t digital life. personalized home security and automation. get professionally monitored security for just $29.99 a month. with limited availability in select markets. ♪ i nethat's my geico digital in seleinsurance id card - gots all my pertinents on it and such. works for me. turn to the camera. ah, actually i think my eyes might ha... next! digital insurance id cards. just a tap away on the geic

chris christie fired his campaign manager last week based on just the tone of his e-mails, but chris ep his personal chairman of the port authority in that job when his e-mails reveal a much more ominous tone, much more disturbing tone. david samson should be the next resignation demanded by chris christie. but he should not be the last. >> i am embarrassed and humiliated by the conduct of some of the people on my team. [ male announcer ] imagine this cute blob is metamucil. and this park is the inside of your body. see, the special psyllium fiber in metamucil actually gels to trap some carbs to help maintain healthy blood sugar levels. metamucil. 3 amazing benefits in 1 super fiber. [ chicken caws ] [ male announcer ] when your favorite food starts a fight, fight back fast with tums. heartburn relief that neutralizes acid on contact and goes to work in seconds. ♪ tum, tum tum tum tums! over the pizza place on chestnut street the modest first floor bedroom in tallinn, estonia and the southbound bus barreling down i-95. ♪ this magic moment it is the story of where every great idea begi

those are chris christie's words. we're not going to hear that kind of brand that we see as we wait for him to come out. frank, i want to pick up on two things, one i heard you say earlier, if i understood you right we don't know exactly why it happened. i'm pretty sure we know broadly why it happened at least according to the contemporaneous information that we have. there was a desire and even a glee at punishing democrats and people that they saw were their political enemies. that's in the e-mails. >> but which ones? >> but we know it was political retribution. >> right. the point i'm making it was designed to punish people. and what michael isikoff mentioned, as this turned into a series of investigations, the politics will proceed for some time, but the information can be extremely damaging. i want to be clear for viewers to try to understand where this goes. there are state and state legislature on one track. the federal investigation, the u.s. attorney's office is in inquiry right now. and it if proceeds to a f

recently chris christie was trying to unseat tom kean jr.he offered a very full-throated defense of chris christie. were you surprised about that? >> he went on to talk about christy as a politician. he did not sound like someone who is going to be a critic. he did say one thing that jives with what matt was just saying. that this is a pattern of chris christie. that this is how he exercised power in new jersey. it's a complicate d state. it has a lot of centers. he mastered the leverage of that state. if that is where christie is paying people off, even if he survives the latest scandal. >> molly, we probably -- we shouldn't make too much out of some retaliation. this is politics. it's not as though it's enemy of any politician you might name couldn't find some stories of politician x, politician y canceling meetings after not getting what they wanted. that's what made this traffic jam story so bizarre. >> well, i think people are willing to tolerate quite a bit of pettiness if they feel it's getting things done. if they were knocking heads together and trade favors to pass the state bud

tells nbc news that the assembly had originally planned just to subpoena bridget anne kelly, chris christie's deputy chief of staff who ordered the shutdown, and bill stepien who is the governor's campaign manager. he turns up in e-mail calling the mayor of fort lee an idiot. governor christie has already fired both of these people who you see on their screen here. and scuttled bill stepien's plan to become head of the republican party. apparently the plan was to subpoena those two people. now they're getting expert advice from the prosecutor who put blagojevich in prison for corruption. that gentleman is assisting the assembly in its investigation. a source involved tells nbc news that it was the advice of the new special counsel that caused the assembly to lengthen its subpoena list from two, bridget ann kelly and bill stepien, to instead the 17 people and three entities who are getting served tonight. the source saying, that's what happens when you talk to somebody who knows how to do one of these investigations, end quote. so by the end of the hour tonight, by the end of the night, we may

i have the same question with chris christie. e the other two on this panel, don't think all the questions have been answered. i still think there's more to come out. but when i ask that same question, what did christie know, when did he know it, i don't see any of that criticism. and bridgegate, in comparison to the things that we've seen with benghazi and first scandal and fast and furious, there was a lot more at stake with those other scandals. >> i think there's like a verbal tick among conservatives, that whenever you mention anything with a republican, they have to say benghazi. >> a verbal tick. you call four dead americans a verbal tick? >> no, no -- >> mark, let me say something. i think dana raises a perfectly relevant point. there is a hypocrisy there. having lived through these three other scandals that she cited, i do remember the way the democrats behaved over that. and now, suddenly, it looks like it's a different cite, even though you could argue that bridgegate is just as serious as the others. people's lives cou

he's been with chris christie since governor christie's day as u.s. attorney.uty chief of staff before the chief of staff. he's been chris christie's closest aide for a long time running day-to-day operations of the administration including during the time that the deputy chief of staff seems to have ordered the shut down of traffic in ft. lee, new jersey, as a way of settling some as yet poorly understood political vendetta. chris christie's chief of staff is the man governor christi says he turned to when he first started asking his staff questions about the bridge scandal. governor christie says he relied on his chief counsel and on mr. o'dowd, the chief of staff, to talk to everybody else. to get anybody else on his staff who knew anything about the bridge shutdown to fess up. now that he has been nominated to be the next attorney general for the state, kevin o'dowd may be in the position to ask his former colleagues, once again, what they knew about the manufactured traffic jam in ft. lee, because if he is confirmed as attorney general, he might find himse

they are moving on from chris christie trying to talk about other things. supporters of christie, those are criticizing him. he was never a base candidate for them. talk to me about that different reaction among republicans. >> you are seeing some republicans defend him. rudy giuliani is one. he did it it on cnn last night. nicki hailey putting out a statement. that was the exception. most republicans didn't want to talk about this saying it was a matter they knew little about. you make another good point as well. chris christie was never beloved by the base of the republican party. conservatives haven't trusted chris christie. they consider him willing to work with democrats and they look back to his embrace of president obama of soouch storm sandy. this will not help him with those people and those voters are key if he has presidential ambitions, which we know he probably does. >> thank you so much. one of those telling comments came from senator rand paul who will likely run against chris christie for president. rand paul, his response was everyone knows

senator temporarily until a special election could be held, chris christie tapped jeffrey ciasa. when governor christie started his term as the chairman of the republican governor's association, "david samson was among the group of close advisers who went to arizona with chris christie in november to the aga meeting." "as a sign that samson is seen as important to christie's national run for office." david samson and chris christie are very close, when it came out in those subpoenaed documents, this e-mail from david wildstein, "david samson is helping us to retaliate." that was a big deal in terms of how high the scandal goes and how close the scandal gets to governor chris christie. and on the day that governor christie apologized and he said he was humiliated and called his deputy chief of staff stupid and he said the other people involved were stupid and deceitful and showed poor judgment. on that day when everybody had seen the "david samson is helping us to retaliate" e-mail, the governor took a different tone when he was talking about david samson. >> what about mr. samson?

not endorsing chris christie. and the state's effusive efforts to help the second largest city in the state just go up in a puff of smoke. with all the subtlety of a fire-breathing dragon. the mayor in jersey city tries. he asks his staff to please try to reschedule. he says, "try to reschedule. see what they say." the mayor, himself, writes back to his friendly text message buddy, bill baroni to try to reschedule. he waits 2 1/2 weeks and writes again to bill baroni to reschedule. he gets a port authority official to help him reschedule with bill baroni. he writes to a new official just taking office at the port authority to meet with her about jersey city. she's new. maybe she doesn't know about this black ball on the second largest city in the state. initially he gets a positive response from the new official at the port authority, but then, like all the rest, nothing. no response. radio silence. remember during the bridge shutdown when governor christie's staff and appointees were gleeful over how they weren't

in 2010, right after chris christie took office as governor of new jersey, governor christie made an unprecedented decision with regard to new jersey supreme court justice john wallace. for the first time, governor of new jersey mr. christie declined to reappoint a supreme court justice to the bench. supreme court justices in new jersey serve for seven years. that's their initial term. then the governor has the choice of whether or not to reappoint them. if they get reappointed, renominated, they get to serve until they're 70 years old. then it's a lifetime appointment. chris christie made the decision not to renominate judge wallace. before chris christie turfed out john wallace, no governor of either party in the history of the state had done that. no matter the party, either the governor making the renomination decision or party of the justice or party of the person who nominated the justice in the first place, nobody ever refused to renominate a justice before, ever. chris christie did it to justice john wallace. justice wallace was well regarded. there was no scandal around him.

is chris christie's going to become a criminal issue? ederal authorities are looking into it now. it is not going to be a she said, they said, that being christie's staff. some said that she was threatened with not getting sandy funds unless she went for real estate deal. real estate in new jersey is important. >> it is a big deal. >> it is a big deal. it will be sorted out. i think a version of it certainly did happen. it is consistent with the chris christie behavior. >> lanhee, how serious is this? >> this will all get sorted out, but the reality is that this is an opportunity for chris christie's political opponents to bring up crazy accusations. i think the reality is that chris christie has been pretty clear about what his involvement was and was not in the whole thing. the investigation will show more. this is more of a witch hunt from chris christie's opponents than anything else. >> lanhee, even if that is the case, and even if it is benign, it is created such a fuss. should he, for the sake of the party, resigned? >> i do not th

and the debate with chris christie. we begin the program with former senate majority leader tom daschle. thank you for being your. obama with relatively low ratings. what does he have to do to turn things around? >> he has to show energy. he has to show passion or the things he wants to do in the second term. there is a feeling of lethargy. he has had some setbacks. he needs to reading gauge and re-energize. and i think he will do that. >> the focus, we are told, will be on income inequality, which is very real. the critics say that it is derisive and that obama offers no solutions. >> whether he offer solutions or not, you cannot ignore it. there are too many studies about it. there's been a lot of attention internationally. i think it would be bad to ignore it. we have to adjust that. we have got conservatives and liberals talking about it. they have different ways of addressing it. but clearly, there is a universal recognition. >> could there be a consensus? >> i think there is always a chance. at that is always the

>> have you heard from anybody in chris christie's camp? >> no, i am not on his radar, i trust i'm not on his rolodex either. >> thank you for joining us. i want to bring in loretta wineburg, in the fort lee district. and the columnist who has covered this from the very start. let me talk to you first, loretta wineburg, this lays clear evidence that takes to the heart of chris christie's operation. >> well, i've been involved in this issue for four months, which the mayor knows. i represent fort lee, indeed i lived in fort lee for a couple of years. so i know this area quite well, i know the geography well. i have been to four -- port authority commission meetings in october, november, december, i have asked question after question. so let's look at this whole thing. i am really glad that the governor has finally, after four months, expressed outrage. let me point out that all of the new jersey commissioners are nominated by the governor. he is the one who appoints them. then we move ahead to his two top lieutenants at the port authority, t

this guy is one of the closest political aids to chris christie. istie was praising just a month ago and saying this guy would be doing a lot of things for him down the road. he was supposed to be taking over for the head of the republican party in new jersey. also in the governors association. all that gone. this is something that will hurt chris christie. >> one of the three legs of the political stool. part of the triumphant that was leading him to power and would have been a key player. >> i wonder if this scandal would make chris christie a different candidate than he would have been without it? a more presidential-sounding person. >> that's a good point. a lot of republicans yesterday saying we like chris christie and his toughness and americans want a tough person as president. somebody who will fight for the country and be strict. but at the same time, there's been a criticism of chris christie that he's a bully. will this change that? it it might might. stay tuned. >>> congress will take another vote today over obamacare. two bills actually

the same chris christie appointee, he is the same chris christie political appointee who gave the order to close those lanes on the bridge. he's the man who gave specific instructions to bridge officials to not warrant local police, and not warrant town of fort lee about what was about to hit them. other e-mails that have been made public show that the port authority knew they were advised explicitly that shutting down those lanes on the bridge would cause the whole town of fort lee to be gridlocked in a backlog of hundreds of stuck cars. they did it anyway. that is explicitly why they did it. that wasn't a bug, that was a feature, that's what they were going for. we now know that because partially redacted e-mails and text message transcripts were published today. those transcripts and e-mails show that governor christie's appointee to the port authority didn't come up with that idea on his own, it came from governor christie's office directly. boom! look, this is an e-mail from governor christie's office, deputy chief of staff telling david wildstein at the port authority, "time for s

chris christie's visit to fort lee will come after a nearly two-hour news conference today where chris christie announced the firing of a. bridget kelly and after a statement from the u.s. attorney's office in newark it was reviewing the later, we will determine whether the law was implicated. david wildstein pled the fifth refusing to answer state lawmakers for investigating this very issue. we need to be clear, no evidence has suggested that chris christie knew about or ordered the lane closings in question. now, throughout the nearly two-hour-long news conference the governor emphasized his repeated attempts in the past to minimize this scandal were based on deception fed to him by staff members. >> i had no knowledge or involvement in this issue, in its planning or its execution. i've had a tight-knit group of people who i trust implicitly. i had no reason to believe they weren't telling me the truth. >> the governor said he was embarrassed and, quote, humiliated at the conduct of senior staff. in addition to the firing of kelly, he announced his withdrawing support for a campaign

the incoming speaker of the state assembly in new jersey is a product of this alliance that chris christie has with democrats, pro-christie democrats. there was some thought the incoming speaker would not suspend the subpoena authority until this week. >> what's perfect, that gets to the core of this whole thing because the entire core of the christie appeal, right, of the christie mystique is i bring people together, i've got democrats for christie, christie-crats. i'm the only person who can make this state function because i've got these democrats and we can work together. while washington is broken. and what this does, it shows what the predicate was for that kind of cooperation which is that if you stepped out of line, you got traffic for four days in your town. >> right. the other thing is, like, we have -- one of the -- there are many unresolved questions from today. i think one of them is very much, was -- it's been reported this is about an endorsement, seeking an endorsement from a democratic mayor and denied the endorsement. i'm not convinced that's the case. >> let's bring in n

chris christie, it could be the best. >> you see a mission is different than a job a. n is something that is sacred. it's a sacred trust that was thrust upon me and you. >> reporter:ies christie is not just benefiting politically from a natural disaster. she benefiting politically from a natural disaster made more disastrous by his own administration's failure to prepare. in his first term, he defunded after sandy when reporters filed public records requests, they found out new york city's transit plans for severe storms is detailed in five binders each three inches thing. new jersey's transit plan three-and-a-half pages with everything blacked out. >> my pledge to you tonight is i will govern with the spirit of sandy [ applause ] >> two things to tell you about, since that piece first ran, a lawsuit filed with the fair share housing center shook loose a small number of documents detailing shocking racial dissparities of who gets sandy money and who doesn't. on average, black residents were denied sandy relief 36.5% of the time. latinos 19% of the time, white residents

and that's what chris christie showed.ere for 111 minutes in an open dialogue with the press. now only if barack obama and hillary clinton would give us 11 seconds of that would we find out some things we want to find out about obamacare, benghazi, the irs. >> go ahead, joy, i don't know what he is talking about. president obama, whatever you may think about him, but he does hold press conferences. he holds long ones. i don't know what he is talking about. that's a fact. >> and reince priebus isn't exactly the most effective political operative in the world. his rebranding of the republican party isn't going so well. but i think what he is trying to do there is a version of what chris christie did in that endless press conference. it's sort of obfuscation. it's throwing everything but the kitchen sink and trying to distract. i think part of the audience for that really is the media, and trying to refocus the attention of people in the political press. a lot of people have been, let's face it, pretty favorable towards chris

first of all, chris christie shouldn't be in charge of investigating chris christie. and they're going to be involved with other investigators and to have christie talk to them about the underlying events may generate more questions than answers. so the idea of christie personally continuing this investigation as he said he would, i'm not so sure that will actually happen. or if it does, that it's such a good idea. >> with one of the players, david wildstein, pleading the fifth. and the u.s. attorney now saying the u.s. federal government is looking into this, jeffrey, who would have main responsibility if in fact there is a criminal investigation, local, state or federal authorities? >> well, this question, wolf, is what prosecutors spend a great deal of their lives negotiating about. in many, many crimes there is overlapping jurisdiction. and there is often competition over these cases. ultimately the federal government always has the juice, the power, to take over an investigation. and here clearly, i think, paul fishman, who is the u.s. attorney appointed by barac

does it smell like chris christie?smell the fact that there is somebody going to testify like a john dean in a couple of weeks? i'm betting and hoping for bridget kelly to talk about what it really was like working for big guy and what the orders were and the signals were and the atmosphere was. >> right. >> and that's why she had this conversation. "time for traffic problems in ft. lee", as if she had been having this conversation for months. your thoughts. >> well, i don't think they'll ever find a smoking ham, you know, to attribute to chris christie directly. i think he is too clever for that. that's not how thugs work. the whole reason that you hire someone like bridget kelly is to carry out orders like this that you don't actually give. remember when benedict was the god's rottweiler or the pope's rottweiler they called him before he got the pope job? well, she is blob's rottweiler, okay? she knows to do this without actually having to be told. it's the atmosphere. what i think is interesting that i find new abou

. >> as chris christie visited the sunshine state, trying to shore up support, a dork cloud over chris christie. >> she did not get behind a multimillion development project. the governor made it clear that money would flow if and only if the project was approved. >> she said, "i though these things should not be connected, but they are. and if you tell anyone i'll deny." >> g many were subpoenaed last week. the scandal relates to the shutting of two lanes in september. an act of political retribution by the governor. the aids were blamedment sfoo i am embarrassed and humiliated by the conduct of some of the people on my team. >> now the governor's office is denying recent allegations saying it's clear partisan politics are at play as mayors with a political axe to grind come out of theed woodwork. >> 100 million and private property damn. and $10 million in damage to private property. >> i'm stunned he would use the sandy funds and hold them over my head when you consider what happened to hoboken, and we were devastated. >> chris christie is facing three investigations into the scanda

a chris christie investigation bombshell. carried out the september lane closings to the washington bridge claims governor christie knew of the closings, knew of the lane closings as they were happening. the claim directly contradicts governor christie's own story. it comes from david wildstein, the man who replied "got it" after receiving that now infamous e-mail time

chris christie as a u.s.ttorney he was very skillful and artful at acknowledging we go where the evidence leads us that that's what we're going to do. as we sit here because of the redactions and people who have testified and taken the fifth amendment, we don't know where this goes. but that will be exactly what we're trying to find out. >> but when you say you take governor christie at his word but there are multiple investigations and still lingering questions it leads me to believe you don't take him at his word. he said he's investigating that there are more people involved. he insists he knew nothing about it until these e-mails were released. so do you take him at his word at that? >> listen, the governor's taken an oath to represent the state of new jersey and uphold the constitution. he's made a very dwefinitive statement. i take him at his word. the governor as you indicated in the two-hour press conference that he's going to look into the investigation. we can't allow him to independently do the inv

something missing from the chris christie story the last few days, like fellow republicans defending e or they? the head of the republican governors association has had a glaring lack of republican governors rallying around him, and that's christie. he has had some support. michael grimm yesterday came on "hardball" to back him up. rudy giuliani is also out there for him. and surprisingly, governor nikki haley from down in south carolina. but those are the small exceptions. most republicans have been holding back, not giving an inch of help to this guy. and some have taken the opportunity to actually attack him. catch this. here is lindsey graham. he told nbc news kasie hunt yesterday the scandal, quote, reinforces a narrative that is troublesome about the guy. he is kind of a bully. you know, being candid and forthright and speaking truth to power is one narrative, but the other narrative is, you know, he is a transactional politician. he rewards his friends and he punishes his enemies. later, senator graham backtracked a bit saying he was impressed by christie's press conference yes