Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Sunday said Republicans cannot “blindly” follow President Trump without him providing evidence to support his claims of voter fraud in the 2020 presidential election.
Christie said many Republicans have been stunned by the “contentious election,” which several news agencies on Saturday called for Democrat Joe Biden.
“That’s why, to me, I think it was so important early on to say to the president: If your base is for not conceding [because] there was voter fraud, then show us,” Christie said on ABC News’ “This Week.” “Because if you don’t show us, we can’t do this. We can’t back you blindly without evidence.”
Christie, who noted he has been a friend of Trump’s for two decades, said “friendship doesn’t mean that you’re blind.”
“Friendship means that you will listen to somebody, give them their opportunity, and if they don’t come forward with the proof, then it’s time to move on,” he said.
Trump has not conceded to Biden, and his campaign has filed half dozen lawsuits in states to contest the results.
Meanwhile on Sunday, a top Senate Republican said that it is “time for the president’s lawyers to present the facts” if they have evidence of any wrongdoing during the 2020 presidential election.
Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MO) serves as the chairman of the Senate Republican Policy Committee and the Senate Rules Committee. During an interview on ABC’s “This Week,” host George Stephanopoulos noted that Sens. Mitt Romney (R-UT) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) have congratulated Joe Biden, who many media outlets on Saturday declared the winner of the election.
“They certainly have the right to do whatever they want to do,” Blunt said. “I think this is a time when the extra five days or so to get the process finished, to actually let the states look at the challenges in their state—this is a close election. This is closer than anybody thought.”
“If you’re the president and you look at the press projecting something, almost nothing the press projected in this election turned out to be right. There was no blue wave. If there is a mandate, the mandate is … we want people to work together. There weren’t great losses of Republican candidates because of President Trump, nor did President Trump get a thrashing. He actually in—with Hispanic voters, with black voters, with voters that nobody expected to come to him, they did,” the senator said.
Stephanopoulos pressed, saying: “Let’s talk about the facts. Let’s talk about the facts right now. … Joe Biden has won this election. Why can’t you acknowledge it?”
Blunt, citing comments made earlier on the show by Christie, said, “What I said on Friday and what Chris Christie said just a few minutes ago on this show is, it’s time for the president’s lawyers to present the facts, and then it’s time for those facts to speak for themselves.”
“It’s gonna be much easier to work toward the kind of transition we want, look at the inauguration, which I’m gonna have the honor of chairing again this time, and bringing the country together, if everybody feels like we went through a process and everybody was heard—every legal vote was counted, every illegal vote was challenged and not counted, we come to a conclusion. I think that happens pretty quickly,” he said.
“Almost every state within seven to ten days of the election goes through that entire canvas. There are always some changes. Seems unlikely that any changes could be big enough to make a difference, but this is a close election, and we need to acknowledge that,” Blunt said.
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