Christie praises McCain for standing by him during Bridgegate

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) on Sunday praised Sen. John McCain for standing by him during the fallout from the Bridgegate scandal, calling the Arizona Republican, who died from brain cancer on Saturday, an “amazing person.”

“Two days after Bridgegate in January of 2014 for me, I was under siege, I got a call from John McCain,” Christie said on ABC News’s “This Week.”

“And he said to me, ‘Listen, I got one question for you.’ He said, ‘Did you have anything to do with this?’ And I said I didn’t, senator,” Christie said. “And he said ‘good.’ ”

{mosads}“He goes, ‘Well then, you’re getting killed out there,’ ” Christie continued. “’ Tell your people to put me on as many TV shows as I can. I’m going to stand up for you.’ ”

“And for weeks after that, he was one of the only voices on television saying ‘I know Chris Christie, I know his character, I know he didn’t have anything to do with this.’ And I didn’t call him, he called me,” Christie recounted.

“Very few friends like that in politics,” Christie said of McCain. “He’s an amazing person.”

Two of Christie’s former aides were charged in connection to Bridgegate, in which lanes on the George Washington Bridge were closed in retribution against a mayor who refused to endorse Christie for reelection

Prosecutors decided not to pursue Christie, saying they could not prove that he had knowledge of the closures.