Chris Christie says Giuliani revealing Trump's reimbursement is strategy: Rudy has to 'clean it up'
Chris Christie talked about Rudy Giuliani's move on "Good Morning America."
WASHINGTON, D.C. -- Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie said Rudy Giuliani was using time-honored strategy by publicly stating that President Trump reimbursed Michael Cohen for his $130,000 hush money payment to porn star Stormy Daniels.
Giuliani, the former New York City mayor who is Trump’s new attorney, made the comments on Fox News Wednesday night.
"He knows that there’s been different stories being told about this payment and how it was made," Christie told ABC News' chief anchor George Stephanopoulos on "Good Morning America" Thursday morning. "The fact is Rudy has to go out there now and clean it up -- that’s what lawyers get hired to do."
"It’s a typical thing to do and it wasn’t surprising at all," Christie said.
Giuliani said the president paid Cohen before the 2016 election and there was no campaign finance violation. The president backed him up.
"I think Bob Mueller is looking at much bigger things than that," Christie said speaking on violations.
Trump, who has publicly denied any knowledge of the payment to the porn star, admitted he paid his attorney "a monthly retainer."
Christie said the president should not be interviewed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller, who is leading the investigation of Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential election, alluding to Giuliani's motive to reveal Trump's reimbursement.
"When you look at the questions that he put out, I think it backs up what I’ve said and I know Dan said too, which is you can’t let this guy be interviewed," he said. "You cannot let the president be interviewed."
"You don’t want to expose your client to that," Christie said.
"I’ve been saying for months that he had a below-grade legal team," he added said. "Now what he’s got in Giuliani and in Emmet Flood are two very experienced warriors."
Despite the newly revealed information, the president continues to deny the alleged affair with Stormy Daniels.
"The agreement was used to stop the false and extortionist accusations made by her about an affair, despite already having signed a detailed letter admitting that there was no affair," Trump tweeted.