Chris Christie blasts Nikki Haley as not a ‘serious contender’ in GOP primary

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie slammed fellow GOP presidential candidate Nikki Haley as not being a “serious contender” due to her lack of criticism against former President Donald Trump.

When asked if he would work together with Haley in the future to defeat Trump, Christie claimed he is the only one trying to defeat the former president and criticized the former South Carolina governor, while speaking on CBS News’s Face the Nation on Sunday.

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“I’m working on defeating Donald Trump. I’m the only one in the race who is working on defeating Donald Trump. When she hasn’t ruled out being his vice president, I don’t think you can take her as a serious contender against him,” Christie said.

“Ron DeSantis and I have both ruled out accepting the vice presidency from Donald Trump. Nikki Haley has not. That’s why she’s not saying strong things against Donald Trump. Why she’s saying he’s fit to be president of the United States,” he added.

Christie then discussed how Trump said that immigrants are “poisoning the blood” of the country during a rally on Saturday, and hit Haley for saying that the former president is fit to be commander in chief while making those statements.

“I don’t know how you can take someone like that and say that they’re fit to be president of the United States. This is language and things being said that are just wrong,” Christie said.

Christie also contested that Haley is “surging” in New Hampshire, pointing to recent polls showing that the two are within percentage points of each other behind Trump.

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“I don’t understand where you talk about surging, Margaret. I know that that’s the talking points up on the teleprompter, but it’s not surging,” he said.

A CBS News poll released on Sunday shows Haley with 29%, while Christie has 10%, in the New Hampshire Republican presidential primary. In the survey, Trump still leads the field with 44%, but it is Haley’s strongest showing in a poll so far in the campaign.