Christie says Trump Jr.'s meeting "doesn't help" political cynicism
New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said Monday that news regarding Donald Trump Jr.'s meeting with a Kremlin-connected Russian lawyer during the 2016 presidential campaign "doesn't help" ease cynicism when it comes to government, Politico reports.
"My understanding of this is there's concern by some people of collusion," Christie said. "Even from what we've heard so far, I don't see any evidence of that. So we need to get back to what the bottom line is here. If there's collusion, that's a major issue. If there isn't, then I don't think it is. But none of it's positive and I'm sure that nobody in the administration thinks that was a good week."
The New Jersey governor was referring to a meeting in which the president's eldest son met with Russian lawyer Natalia Veselnitskaya at Trump Tower in June 2016. Trump Jr. released a series of emails via Twitter last week, confirming that he was told the meeting would reveal allegedly damaging information about Hillary Clinton as part of the Russian government's support of Mr. Trump.
Former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort and the Mr. Trump's son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner also attended the meeting. Both Trump Jr. and his father maintain that nothing substantive came of the meeting and that it was a typical part of seeking "opposition research."
"Most politicians would have gone to a meeting like the one Don jr attended in order to get info on an opponent," Mr. Trump tweeted Monday. "That's politics!"
Christie said that it would be both inappropriate and potentially illegal for a U.S. political campaign to accept such information from a foreign government.
Christie, who ran against President Trump as a Republican candidate for president, and led Mr. Trump's White House transition team following his election, added that information on the Trump campaign's alleged connections to the Russian government "comes out a little bit at a time and a little bit at a time."
He also called on the Trump administration to publicly disclose any contacts had with foreign governments and said they have a legal obligation to do so.
However, Christie said that while the meeting does not reflect well on the White House, he was skeptical to draw criminal conclusions.
"When they come to conclusions, they'll either charge folks or they won't," Christie said. "Then we'll know what's going on."
