Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) on Tuesday said President Trump “blew it” by shutting down the government without a plan to reopen it.
Christie said on “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” that he spoke with Trump at the White House prior to the shutdown, and urged him against using the tactic without a way to quickly resolve it.
“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,” Christie said he told Trump. “If it doesn’t go well in the first couple of days, you’ve got to have a way to get it back open.”
{mosads}The president triggered a government shutdown over his demand for $5.7 billion in funding for a wall along the southern border. Congressional Democrats would not budge on their offer of $1.3 billion for border security measures.
Trump agreed last week to temporarily reopen the government after the 35-day standoff, signing legislation that did not include funding for a wall.
“In politics, we call that ‘getting rolled,’ ” Christie said.
The former New Jersey governor has been on a media blitz in recent days in support of his new book, “Let Me Finish: Trump, the Kushners, Bannon, New Jersey, and the Power of In-Your-Face Politics.”
A bipartisan group of lawmakers will meet over the next few weeks to discuss border security funding. Trump has threatened to shut down the government again or declare a national emergency to direct construction of a wall should the representatives not deliver an agreement to his liking.
Trump tweeted Wednesday morning that discussions among the group must include a wall, or they are “wasting their time.”