April 12, 2017
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie had advice for both White House press secretary Sean Spicer and President Donald Trump's administration on how to deal with the United Airlines controversy while appearing on Fox News' "Fox & Friends" on Wednesday morning.
Christie, first asked about Spicer's comments comparing Adolf Hitler and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, said that the press secretary should have known better before comparing anyone or anything to Hitler.
"There's no winning in bringing up Hitler," he said on the talk show. "Write that down. It's very important. Don't bring up Hitler. You can't win in any conversation about Hitler. He is the most despicable human being in the history of the world. You can't make any kind of comparisons like that, and I just think that unfortunately for [Spicer], he got carried away with himself. I'm glad he apologized, but given all that experience, you should know better."
Spicer has faced a lot of backlash for suggesting that Assad's alleged act of releasing chemical weapons on civilians was worse than acts committed by Hitler. He also suggested that Hitler did not use chemical weapons, ignoring the fact that he used gas chambers to kill many during the Holocaust.
Spicer has since apologized for the incident, even saying that he "let the president down" by making the comments.
Spicer's remarks were far from the only controversy to take place this week. Christie also touched on a viral video that shows a doctor being forcibly dragged off a United Airlines flight after it was overbooked to make room for personnel.
Christie wrote a letter to U.S. Secretary of Transportation Elaine Chao Tuesday. In it, he suggested that the department suspend federal regulations that allow airlines to overbook flights and then remove passengers and end an "abusive" practice.
United Airlines operates more than 70 percent of flights at Newark Liberty International Airport, Christie said in the letter to Chao.
During his Wednesday morning interview, Christie called the airline "awful."
"The fact of the matter is, these are paying customers, and when I buy a ticket and then I check in and I'm assigned a seat, I expect that if I'm boarding on the plane, that I'm going to stay on the plane, and I think to do what they did, anyone that flies commercially knows that United is awful."
On Sunday, four passengers were made to leave a United Airlines flight taking off from Chicago O'Hare International Airport so that airline personnel could make it to Lousiville to catch their next flight.
After asking for volunteers and offering incentives bumped from $400 to $800 of flight vouchers, customers were then chosen to leave at random.
David Dao, a doctor who said he had to make it home to Louisville to see patients, screamed as he was dragged off the plane.
The airline has since apologized for the "horrific event."
"They overbook, they have less planes, they make more money," Christie said. "Remember this, they kicked that guy off the plane and the other three to make money, and they're doing it with the permission of the federal government, so what I'm saying to the administration is: Stop them from doing it."
Watch Christie on "Fox & Friends" here.
