Chris Christie balks at Donald Trump's potential second administration: He 'never finishes what he started'

WASHINGTON – 2024 presidential hopeful and former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie scoffed at a potential second term for former President Donald Trump, alleging Trump “never finishes what he started.”

Christie, in an interview on CNN’s “State of the Union,” said Trump “didn’t finish the job” in his first term as president. If Trump is reelected, Christie has doubts as to whether he could do much more surrounded by a “clowns and rogues gallery.”

“Donald Trump never finishes what he started. He said he was going to build a wall across the entire border of the United States and Mexico. He built 52 miles of new wall in four years. He said he was going to balance the budget, he added $7.8 trillion in debt. And the same way he said he was going to bring peace to the Middle East, he did not do that,” Christie said. 

Christie's claim that, under the Trump administration, 52 miles of border wall were added has been contested.

While one count based on U.S. Customs and Border Protection data puts the total at 458 miles, many of those additions replaced existing barriers.

PolitiFact reported in August that a report from the border agency says Trump's administration built "52 miles of new primary wall systems and 33 miles of new secondary wall systems where there were none before."

Most of the former president’s staff, individuals Christie called “good people,” would not be involved in Trump’s second term. 

“Imagine what he would do in a second term with the clowns and rogues gallery he would have around him in a second Trump term because that’s the only people that would actually work for him,” Christie added, noting how many of Trump's allies were indicted alongside the former president in Georgia over an alleged racketeering scheme to overturn the 2020 election. 

Christie, who has frequently said Trump would lose to President Joe Biden in a general election and targeted the former president over the four sets of criminal charges he faces, reiterated those arguments, saying Trump “is not going to be able to beat Joe Biden from a courtroom.” 

Trump has long led the field of Republican 2024 hopefuls. In an average of polls from Real Clear Politics, Trump leads the group with over 59% of support, compared to Christie's 2.4%.

Contributing: Joedy McCreary, USA TODAY