Chris Christie, the former New Jersey governor weighing a run for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination, says former President Donald Trump is a "coward" and a "puppet" to Russian President Vladimir Putin for refusing during his CNN town hall to say that he wanted Ukraine to defeat Russia.
"I think he’s a coward and I think he’s a puppet of Putin," the New Jersey Republican told radio host Hugh Hewitt this week. "I don’t know why, to tell you the truth, but I can’t figure it out, but there’s no other conclusion to come to."
Trump, during his CNN town hall Wednesday, commented that it is not wise to call Putin a war criminal, saying it would make negotiations with the Russian president difficult, reports Politico.
He also said he doesn't "think of terms of winning and losing" when asked whether he wanted Ukraine or Russia to win. "I think in terms of getting it settled so we stop killing all these people. I want everybody to stop dying," he added.
Christie told Hewitt that when Trump would not back Ukraine, that was, for him, "the most stunning moment in the debate."
"If you don't say that you think Ukraine should win the war, I don’t know where you stand with Putin," Christie said.
Former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson, who has announced his candidacy for the GOP nomination, told CNN that he's "bothered" by Trump's repeated claims that he could negotiate with Putin and end the war.
"He basically talks about himself being a great negotiator," said Hutchinson. "Well, he set the stage by saying, 'We can end this in one day if I’m president.' That gives away [any] negotiating leverage that he has because he tells Putin that, ‘You’re going to win, you’ve got the leverage as we go into the negotiation,'" Hutchinson said. "It’s a terrible mistake, a terrible position, not supporting Ukraine."
Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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