September 13, 2015
Hillary Clinton's email scandal is a stain on the Obama administration, but "Bridgegate" is not on the record of New Jersey Governer Chris Christie, the Republican presidential candidate said Sunday.
In an interview with Chuck Todd on NBC's "Meet The Press," Christie said he believed the current president should come out and address the ongoing news about his former Secretary of State using a private email server while in office.
He suggested Obama should demand that Clinton fully cooperate and reveal all information regarding the investigation into her emails, calling it a "stain" on his presidency.
When Todd countered, asking if Bridgegate fit the same bill, Christie vehemently denounced the notion.
"No, it is not," Christie said. "Nothing has been proven."
He went on, defending his handling of the scandal. Here's more from The Hill:
“If mistakes are made, hold the people responsible who make those mistakes and discuss it with the public openly and transparently, which is exactly what I did. People love to make a big deal about this stuff, but in the end, it’s about how the leader reacts.”
Christie also dismissed questions about ongoing investigations into some of his closest advisers.
“Let’s stop just reading the newspapers and just blathering back what that is. Nothing has been proven yet, so let’s see what happens.”
He went on to take another shot at Clinton, saying he took questions the day after the 'Bridgegate" scandal broke and challenged her to do something similar.
Bridgegate refers to political staffers in Christie's office conspiring to create traffic jams getting onto the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee, possibly to punish the town's Democratic mayor for not endorsing the governor in his 2013 reelection campaign.
Christie has never faced charges in the case, and after one staffer plead guilty and two others were indicted in May, he reaffirmed his claimed innocence regarding the scandal.