MSNBC's Nicolle Wallace on Tuesday hammered New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) with some tough questions about Donald Trump Jr.'s meeting with a Kremlin-connected Russian lawyer who claimed to have negative information on Hillary Clinton. "You think the president's judgment is that Jared Kushner, Paul Manafort, and Don Jr. handled this meeting well?" asked Wallace, who served as communications chief under former President George W. Bush.
Christie, a campaign surrogate for President Trump and a former federal prosecutor, paused before answering. "I don't think I've heard the president say that, and I don't think I've seen him tweet it," Christie said. He argued instead that Trump Jr., Kushner, and Manafort should've gone to the campaign's lawyer — as opposed to the FBI — as soon as they were offered compromising information by the Russian lawyer.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Christie insisted that he was "not here defending the taking of the meeting," but arguing that it's less "evidence of a crime" than proof of a lack of judgment. "I don't think anybody really thinks that this meeting was advisable," Christie said.
Watch Wallace interrogate Christie below. Becca Stanek
-
The week’s best photosIn Pictures A drive in the desert, prayers with pigeons, and more
-
The Week Unwrapped: Will drought fuel global violence?Podcast Plus why did Trump pardon a drug-trafficking president? And are romantic comedies in terminal decline?
-
Sudoku hard: December 5, 2025The daily hard sudoku puzzle from The Week
-
Trump boosts gas cars in fuel economy rollbackspeed read Watering down fuel efficiency standards is another blow to former President Biden’s effort to boost electric vehicles
-
Hegseth’s Signal chat put troops in peril, probe findsSpeed Read The defense secretary risked the lives of military personnel and violated Pentagon rules, says new report
-
Trump pardons Texas Democratic congressmanspeed read Rep. Henry Cuellar was charged with accepting foreign bribes tied to Azerbaijan and Mexico
-
GOP wins tight House race in red Tennessee districtSpeed Read Republicans maintained their advantage in the House
-
Trump targets ‘garbage’ Somalis ahead of ICE raidsSpeed Read The Department of Homeland Security will launch an immigration operation targeting Somali immigrants in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area
-
Hegseth blames ‘fog of war’ for potential war crimespeed read ‘I did not personally see survivors,’ Hegseth said at a Cabinet meeting
-
Canada joins EU’s $170B SAFE defense fundspeed read This makes it the first non-European Union country in the Security Action for Europe (SAFE) initiative
-
Appeals court disqualifies US Attorney Alina HabbaSpeed Read The former personal attorney to President Donald Trump has been unlawfully serving as US attorney for New Jersey, the ruling says
