Plenty of interesting insider observations came out of a Tuesday morning 2019 SALT Conference session in Las Vegas featuring former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie and former Attorney General Jeff Sessions.
The session, “Inside Out: The Past, Present & Future of Trump,” focused heavily on what’s happening with the Mueller Report and Sessions’ decision to recuse himself from the investigation.
With questions coming from moderator Stephanie Ruhle, a correspondent at NBC News, it also touched on the 2020 election, Trump’s tax returns and what’s next for Christie and Sessions.
Christie, in particular, had some eye-opening thoughts about Trump and his prospects for reelection in 2020. He said while voters will have the authority to make a decision again in 2020, it’s up to Congress to decide about impeachment proceedings.
“The only people who have the authority to do something about it before 2020 is the Congress of the United States. If they want to do it, game on. If they want to do it, go ahead and do it, but stop skirting around the edges and acting as if you may do it, but you may not do it, and trying to make a political point out of it. Either do it or don’t. Otherwise, let’s have an election in 2020 and people can decide their position then,” Christie told the crowd.
No support for letter
When Ruhle brought up a letter which she said has been signed by over 700 “apolitical” former federal prosecutors, which says, if Donald Trump was not the sitting president, he would be charged, she asked Christie and Sessions if they would sign on to that letter.
Responding first, Sessions noted that Attorney General William Barr has to make the final decision. “He concluded that there had not been a Russian collusion, which was what the whole thing was about, and the second part was the obstruction charge,” Sessions said. “He had to make the call and he made the call. And I respect the Attorney General.”
To whether he’d be comfortable signing the letter from the former federal prosecutors, Sessions said he can’t agree. “First of all I haven’t studied this sufficiently to make an opinion, and I don’t think they have either,” he said, referring to the prosecutors who have signed the letter.
Christie first took issue with the concept of “apolitical prosecutors” before responding to the question.
“I ran an office in New Jersey for seven years. Every one of those prosecutors who worked for me had an opinion. They voted in elections. They’re not apolitical. They’re not required to be apolitical,” Christie said.” They’re American citizens who go to the polls and vote and express their opinions… They do the best they can every day to be objective about the way they evaluate facts, but they’re not apolitical. The fact is they all have political opinions, and those political opinions affect their judgment at times as well.”
While he said he’s read the Mueller report but doesn’t profess to be an expert in it, Christie said he wouldn’t sign on to the letter “because I don’t believe there’s a crime of attempted obstruction.”
Interestingly, he followed that up with this:
“I would just tell you that there were a lot of good people, the guy sitting next to me (Sessions) being one of them, who when the President decided to pop off and say some things that he shouldn’t have been saying or thinking, did not implement the things that the President may have suggested through his comments,” Christie said.
Christie singled out Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and former White House counsel Don McGahn in addition to Sessions as individuals who were able to stand up to Trump when needed.
“That’s part of the way government is supposed to work. That’s why you hire good people who have integrity… If you’re having a bad day—if you’re suggesting something that maybe isn’t a smart idea—forget about whether it’s legal or illegal—that you have people who are strong enough and have enough integrity to put the brakes on it.”
Trump’s tax returns
One of the most interesting anecdotes to come out of the session was an admission by Christie that he thought (as a then-presidential candidate) Trump’s refusal to release his tax returns during the 2016 campaign would be costly, but ultimately wasn’t.
“I remember at the time, when he didn’t release them and I was running against him, that all of us were kind of like, ‘Oh he’s dead after this. He’s not releasing his tax returns—he’s finished!’ We’d all sit around the debate stage. That was like one of 30 decisions, discussions we had, that when he did something he was done. It just never happens,” Christie said to chuckles from the audience.
Christie said he could not give a legal opinion, but could give a politician’s opinion: “I released my tax returns (when running for and serving as Governor of New Jersey) because I thought that that was the best way or me to let people know about me and my wife and our financial background. The President’s made another decision. That’s another way people in this room and outside this room can judge him as a candidate for election the first time and as a candidate for reelection the second time.”
Did it make a difference to Christie? “I didn’t have his tax returns and I voted for him. I guess that’s the proof in the pudding.”
More session nuggets
- Jeff Sessions on recusing himself from the Mueller investigation due to his involvement in the Trump presidential campaign, which ultimately led President Trump to ask for his resignation: “I felt I had to recuse myself and I felt very comfortable that that was the right thing… I was prepared to submit my resignation any time he asked for it. And when he asked for it, I submitted it.”
- Chris Christie on whether or not he would join the Trump administration if asked by the President: “Well, that’s between me and the President, but let me [put your mind at rest]—he knows what I’d say ‘yes’ to and what I’d say ‘no’ to.”
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