Chris Christie defends Trump Jr.'s meeting by arguing the president's son is 'not sophisticated in this stuff'

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.

But while reading that email "would have rang bells" for Christie, who has decades of experience in politics, Christie noted that Trump Jr. does not have the same background. "I'm saying he's not sophisticated in this stuff," Christie said of the president's son. "You're basically saying Don Jr. is dumb," Wallace fired back.

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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