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Christie Returns to Iowa, Mulling 2024 Presidential Run

August 12, 2022 10:10AM CDT
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Christie Returns to Iowa, Mulling 2024 Presidential Run
FILE – Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, arrives for a news conference at the White House in Washington, with President Donald Trump on Sept. 27, 2020. Christie has been on a PR blitz promoting his new book, “Republican Rescue.” It offers a simple prescription for his party: Stop talking about 2020, focus on the future or keep losing elections. (AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster, File)

DES MOINES, IA (Radio Iowa) Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has returned to the Iowa campaign trail to headline a fundraiser for Senator Chuck Grassley. But Christie — who ran for president in 2020 — may be back soon as a 2024 presidential candidate.

“Definitely thinking about it. I’ve made no secret of that,” Christie says. “I won’t make a final decision until the beginning part of next year.” Christie suggests that while Donald Trump may be considered the front-runner for the GOP’s next presidential nomination, things change quickly in politics.

“I think we have a fundamental decision to make as Republicans: Are we going to be the party of me or the party of us? And by that I mean: Are we going to just pursue just one person’s agenda or are we going to pursue an agenda that can make our entire country better, more prosperous and more united,” Christie says. “…That’s a conversation worth having for us both as a party and for all of us as a country.” In a country that seems to be clearly divided into partisan camps, Christie says now is the time for a Republican presidential campaign about unity.

“You see this over and over again, going back to the Civil War. Lincoln regularly spoke about a house divided not being able to stand and about wanting to bring the country and the union back together,” Christie says. “I think at the moments you need discussions of unity are the moments when we are most divided and I think this is one of those times.” Christie, a two-term governor of New Jersey, served as a U.S. Attorney for seven years. Christie says it’s crazy talk for other Republicans to suggest defunding the FBI as a response to the search of former President Trump’s Florida home.

“Whatever those documents are and especially if they concern and involve national security, they should have never been taken from the White House to begin with and once they were discovered, they should have been returned immediately,” Christie says. “I do think it’s extraordinary to execute a federal search on a former president’s home or office.” Christie says if court documents related to the search are released for public view, it will give Americans a better idea of why a federal judge signed off on the search. The Department of Justice filed a motion yesterday (Thursday) to unseal those documents and late last (Thursday) night, Trump announced he would agree to the release. The decision is now up to the judge.