Chris Christie – a former U.S. attorney long before he became an ex-Trump ally – told Hugh Hewitt on Wednesday that he expects a Trump indictment by July 2023. At the same time, Christie wasn’t bullish concerning the government’s chances in every case currently building against the 45th president.
“This is a very difficult case to make off the phone call,” Christie opined when asked about the Georgia grand jury. “Now I don’t know what their other evidence is. That’s supposed to be the beauty of the grand jury system. And it is so far in this case that you don’t know what all the specific other evidence may be. But based upon what I know publicly, I think it’s a tough case to bring against the former president based upon the information we now know.”
So where does he think the hammer will fall the hardest?
Christie: I think the most likely place it will happen is New York. And I think it’s the least harmful matter to him. If in fact all they’re looking at is the Stormy Daniels payments, I think that Letitia James has made it clear that she’s a political prosecutor, and that what she wants to do, and that she promised during the campaign, that she was going to go get Donald Trump. And I think she probably will. But I don’t think that would do much harm to him. So I think in terms of the likelihood of indictment, I’d put New York first, the special counsel second, Georgia third. But in terms of the seriousness of the peril for the president, I’d put the Special Counsel above either of those.
Hewitt: So in brief, do you expect an indictment by July?
Christie: I expect that New York probably would act. I don’t know whether the special counsel will act by that time, but my guess is that New York would act by that time.
Hewitt: Can someone run for office and do debates and give interviews when they’re under indictment and not make their situation worse?
Christie: No, I think it’s impossible for them not to make the situation worse, although what I would say to you, Hugh, is that given the limited nature of the New York case, I don’t know that he’s going to be getting a whole lot of questions about the Stormy Daniels situation anyway. I think it seems to me a pretty cut and dry situation. And I don’t know that he’d make his situation markedly worse. But every time you open your mouth, as you know in this kind of situation, you run the real risk of it adding complications to a case where you could lose your liberty. And that’s why defense lawyers always rightfully tell their clients to keep quiet, because you don’t need to make that situation more complicated, because your liberty is at stake.
Click here for the full interview.
