Chris Christie Called Out Trump For Bragging That He’s ‘The Apple Of Vladimir Putin’s Eye’

If Chris Christie accomplishes anything during the Republican primary, it will be aggressively prosecuting every word out of Donald Trump‘s mouth as he continues to run for president despite facing four indictments.

This time around, Christie went after Trump’s recent remarks about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The former president told Fox Business that Vladimir Putin would’ve never entered the country if he was still in office.

“Putin would have never gone into Ukraine, but that was just on my relationship with him,” Trump said via Newsweek. “My personality over his. [He] would have never gone in. I used to speak to him. I was the apple of his eye, but I said ‘Don’t ever do it.’ It was tough stuff there, but he would have never done it.”

Trump bragging that he’s the “apple of Putin’s eyes” is, obviously, a very weird thing for a former American president to say, and Christie made it a point to call out the quote while speaking to Erick Erickson at a conference in Atlanta over the weekend.

Via Politico:

“We have folks in this race who have called Vladimir Putin brilliant, a great leader,” Christie said. “Just yesterday, Donald Trump called him that he was the apple of Putin’s eye. I have to tell you the truth: I don’t want to be the apple of Vladimir Putin’s eye.”

“A Christie administration would stand up for our friends around the world and work with them,” he added.

The former New Jersey governor also called out fellow GOP candidate Vivek Ramaswamy who suggested pulling back on America’s commitment to Taiwan.

“We need to stand up for people who want freedom,” Christie said. “And if we let the Chinese do that kind of domination game, because we’re unprepared or unwilling to deter them, then they will not stop there. And we’ve seen this act before.”

However, despite the Putin remarks and several indictments, Trump continues to significantly dominate the GOP primary. For now.

(Via Politico, Newsweek)