Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said President Trump “blew it” with how he handled the partial government shutdown.
Speaking on “The Late Show” with host Stephen Colbert Tuesday night, Mr. Christie said the president lost the shutdown the moment he entered it because there was no exit strategy.
“The president blew it when he shut the government down with no plan on how to reopen it,” he said.
The former Republican governor agreed with Mr. Colbert that the shutdown was “entirely [Trump’s] fault.” Mr. Christie explained that he was with the president in the residence before the shutdown began, and he advised Mr. Trump that a shutdown would be all right if he managed it right.
“I said this to him — ’Listen, if you’re going to do this, you better have an exit plan. Because sometimes in politics, things don’t go the way you expect. And so, if it doesn’t go well in the first couple of days, you’ve got to have a way to get it back open,’ ” Mr. Christie said.
“And I don’t think — given that it went 35 days — we had a plan,” he added.
Since Mr. Trump agreed to reopen the government with a three-week continuing resolution without any guarantee of wall funds, Mr. Christie said the president got “rolled.”
• Gabriella Muñoz can be reached at gmunoz@washingtontimes.com.
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