Christie Says Trump ‘Knows’ What Job He’d Accept in Administration
Christie Says Trump ‘Knows’ What Job He’d Accept in Administration
(Bloomberg) -- Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said he’s repeatedly rejected job offers from President Donald Trump but that there’s one position he wouldn’t name that he’d accept.
“He knows what I’d say yes to and he knows what I’ve said no to,” Christie said Wednesday during an appearance at SkyBridge Capital’s SALT Conference in Las Vegas.
Christie said he’s told Trump twice each that he wasn’t interested in leading the Department of Homeland Security or the Labor Department, and also turned down White House chief of staff. He sidestepped a question about whether he was holding out for attorney general, sitting on the stage next to a man who held that post, Jeff Sessions.
He said he’d evaluate whether taking any administration position would be good for his family and the country.
Christie, who sought the 2016 Republican presidential nomination and left the governor’s mansion in 2018, also said he hadn’t ruled out running for president again, but that he would not challenge Trump for the party’s nomination in 2020. Christie added he was open to mounting another run in 2024, and had “no interest” in serving in a legislative body.
Sessions hinted that he might also be weighing a return to public life. Sessions represented Alabama in the U.S. Senate for a decade before resigning to lead the Justice Department, and Senator Doug Jones, a Democrat, was elected to fill the seat he abandoned. Jones is up for re-election in 2020.
“I haven’t made a formal announcement about the Senate race, but I am interested in the issues,” Sessions said.
To contact the reporter on this story: Justin Sink in Washington at jsink1@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Alex Wayne at awayne3@bloomberg.net, John Harney
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