After a failed presidential bid and repeated humiliations at the hands of President Trump, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has his eyes set on the White House once more. While previously named to head the White House's new commission to battle drug addiction, Christie has clearly always yearned for more, and as the deeply unpopular governor's final eight months in office begin, he has both refocused on New Jersey while remaining in close touch with Trump, Politico reports:
[Christie] recently spent much of two days in the Oval Office, where Trump asked him about his administration's performance and even dispatched him to see different White House officials and report back, according to a White House aide and one other person briefed on the conversations. He also frequently talks to a number of top aides in Trump's orbit.
[…] Trump often calls Christie at night, one administration official said, and will sometimes tell aides what "Chris says" after their conversations. Trump respects Christie, one person close to both men say, because the governor doesn't mince words — unlike some of the president's aides. [Politico]
Publicly, at least, Christie hasn't been afraid to show the Trump administration some tough love, calling stumbles by the president's inner circle "unacceptable" and blasting Trump's controversial travel ban rollout as "haphazard."
"I would make [the travel ban] even more tailored if I were advising the president on this directly," Christie observed at the time.