‘It Makes Him a Martyr’: Chris Christie Shuts Down Sunny Hostin When She Insists Now Is the Time ‘To Take Out’ Trump

GOP presidential candidate Chris Christie joined ABC’s The View on Wednesday to discuss his campaign and attacks on former President Donald Trump.

Christie spent much of his time on the program tussling with co-host Sunny Hostin about why he believes Trump should not be taken off the ballot over his support for the Jan. 6th attack on the U.S. Capitol.

After a back and forth about constitutional precedent for removing insurrectionists from the ballot, Christie argued, “I’m trying to be practical about this, Sunny.”

“If in fact, we take him off the ballot and he doesn’t have a chance to run, I think it’s going to cause conflict in this country well beyond what we have now,” Christie continued, adding:

Elections in a democracy are supposed to resolve conflict. So let’s resolve the conflict. Let’s defeat him. And this is my problem with Nikki Haley. She doesn’t want to take him on directly. And so let’s have people who are willing to take him on directly and let’s have the people of the United States defeat him at the polls. And then there’s not going to be an argument.

“But there will because people will say that that the law does not apply to everyone,” interjected co-host Whoopi Goldberg.

“They won’t say that Whoopi when they convict him after that and send him to jail,” Christie shot back.

“If that happens! We’ve seen this… Well, I know you all think it will,” Goldberg replied over cross-talk at the table.

“Well, when Mark Meadows stands up and testifies again. Look, his former chief of staff decides an immunity deal. Now, I did this for seven years, as you know,” Christie replied, adding:

No one takes immunity unless they’ve committed crimes. All right, so Meadows is now going to say I’ve committed a crime at his direction, and he committed crimes in front of me. This is not some left winger accusing him. This is a founder of the Freedom Caucus who was his chief of staff.

“But, Governor, what happens if this happens after the election and he’s sitting in the Oval Office?” Hostin replied.
“Well, it’s two different problems, right? If it happens after the after the convention, that’s a Republican Party problem,” Christie said, adding he believes Trump would lose the election as a result.

“What happens if he’s in the Oval Office?” demanded Hostin.

“Well, if he’s in the Oval Office, he’s going to direct his attorney general to dismiss the charge,” Christie conceded.

“Then why not take him out now? Under the Constitution?” demanded Hostin.

“For the political reason, he just said,” interjected Joy Behar.

Christie agreed with Behar, adding, “Because Sunny, it makes him a martyr.”

“And I think it makes him more likely than not to continue to foment division and discord in this country in a way that is destructive to our democracy. And I think I believe in democracy. I believe the people of this country will not reelect Donald Trump. And I think we need to have more confidence in the people in the country. And remember in 2020, in the midst of all the Covid stuff, which should help an incumbent, Right? Crisis usually helps the incumbent. The American people saw through all of it and they voted for Joe Biden,” Christie concluded.

Watch the full clip above via ABC.

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