President Donald Trump suggested he wanted to stop all ballot counting and falsely declared himself the winner in the election, and Chris Christie does not think that was a good call.
Christie said on ABC News early Wednesday that he was speaking as a former U.S. state attorney rather than a former Republican New Jersey governor. He weighed in on Trump’s remarks, saying, “There’s just no basis to make that argument tonight. There just isn’t.”
“All these votes have to be counted that are in now,” Christie continued, adding, “The argument won’t even start in Pennsylvania until tomorrow, or Thursday or Friday.”
Some counties in Pennsylvania stopped counting ballots for the night, as The Hill noted. The Supreme Court allowed Pennsylvania to accept absentee ballots for three days after Election Day.
Christie continued:
“Tonight, this was not the time to make this argument. […] I disagree with what he did tonight… There comes a point where you have to let the process play itself out before you judge it to have been flawed. And I think by prematurely doing this, if there is a flaw in it later, he has undercut his own credibility in calling attention to that flaw. So I think it’s a bad strategic decision, it’s a bad political decision.”
See Christie’s response below:
Chris Christie on Pres. Trump's election remarks: "I talk tonight… as a former U.S. Attorney. There's just no basis to make that argument tonight. There just isn't."
— ABC News (@ABC) November 4, 2020
"I disagree with what he did tonight." https://t.co/GwwRl4EUb3 #ElectionNight pic.twitter.com/PGborH5sCH
In remarks early Wednesday from the White House, Trump prematurely and falsely claimed he won the election, before adding, “This is a major fraud on our nation. We want the law to be used in a proper manner.”
“So we’ll be going to the U.S. Supreme Court. We want all voting to stop,” he continued, adding, “We don’t want them to find any ballots at [4 a.m.] and add them to the list, OK?”
Christie was not the only Republican weighing in on Trump’s comments. Sen. Rick Santorum (R-Pa.) told CNN he “was very distressed by what I just heard the president say.”
The Republican lawmaker added, “The idea of using the word ‘fraud’ being committed by people counting votes is wrong. They’re counting the absentee and mail-in ballots right now. And some counties have stopped counting. Why have they stopped counting? Because it’s 2:48 in the morning!”
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fl.) also appeared to refer to the president’s remarks, tweeting Wednesday morning, “The result of the presidential race will be known after every legally cast vote has been counted”
Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s campaign also slammed the president’s remarks as “outrageous, unprecedented, and incorrect,” as IJR reported.
According to The New York Times, Biden holds 227 Electoral College while Trump has won 213 electoral votes, as of Wednesday at 8:40 a.m. EST. There is 270 electoral votes needed to win the White House.