Chris Christie Says Donald Trump's Use of Campaign Donations for Legal Funds is a 'Continued Grift'
June 29 2023, Published 2:30 p.m. ET
Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie attacked "disgraceful" Donald Trump for using campaign donations to pay his legal fees, RadarOnline.com has learned. Christie branded his Republican presidential primary opponent's actions a "continued grift" of the ex-president's devoted MAGA base.
After Trump was indicted for the second time, the GOP frontrunner's presidential campaign used his potential prison sentence as fundraising fodder in an email sent to supporters.
According to the former governor, Trump used campaign donations to cover his legal expenses because "he’s the cheapest person I’ve ever met in my life."
Christie blasted Trump on Wednesday evening during an interview with CNN's Kaitlan Collins, who brought up filings on Trump's legal fees, including his political action committee, Save America.
Collins asked Christie why he thought Trump had "quietly begun diverting money that he is raising for his 2024 campaign into a political action committee that he has used" for personal legal expenses.
Without hesitation, Christie condemned the use of funds as "disgraceful." Christie doubled-down on his feelings towards Trump when Collins pressed him to defend his statement.
"Because he’s the cheapest person I’ve ever met in my life," Christie continued. "That’s why. And what he’s very good at, Kaitlan, is spending other people’s money."
Christie viewed the siphoned funds as a direct manipulation of Trump's middle-class base.
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"He’s going to middle class men and women in this country and they’re donating 15, 25, 50, $100 because they believe in Donald Trump and they want him to be president again," Christie continued. "They’re not giving that money so he can pay his personal legal fees."
Christie further questioned why a "self-professed billionaire" needed monetary support for legal defense at all.
"He’s a billionaire, self-professed billionaire," Christie told Collins. "Why can’t he use his own money to pay his personal legal fees and not use money coming from the public? It’s disgraceful and it’s a continued grift."
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The ex-governor additionally noted that "the Trump family has been involved in grifting for quite some time."
"He was doing this in terms of the people who got paid out of this PAC before," Christie said of Trump before he noted son-in-law Jared Kushner's personal profits.
"Jared Kushner, six months after he leaves the White House, gets $2 billion from the Saudi sovereign wealth fund. When Donald Trump had put him in a position to be in the Middle East," Christie said.
"What Donald Trump’s doing now is just a continuation of what he’s permitted his family to do over the entire course of his time as president."