Chris Christie scolds “The View” cohost on air for 'insulting' his supporters

Alyssa Farah Griffin suggested that Christie drop out of the 2024 presidential race to support Nikki Haley and defeat Donald Trump.

Former governor of New Jersey and current 2024 election candidate Chris Christie stopped by The View for one of the most explosive political interviews the show has hosted in recent months.

The Republican presidential hopeful sparred with the talk show's cohosts over a variety of topics on Wednesday's episode, but particularly butted heads with conservative panelist Alyssa Farah Griffin — who previously worked for Donald Trump's communications team before resigning in 2020 — over her suggestions that he drop out of the race and throw his support behind Nikki Haley to overtake Trump.

"I would love to vote for you in a general election," Griffin told Christie. "You and I uniquely know how dangerous Donald Trump is. We know that once he seals up the nomination after Super Tuesday, if he does, the only two places to stop him are the courts, which might not, or a general election, where currently he's beating [Joe] Biden in the polls. Why, knowing how dangerous he is, even with Nikki Haley's flaws, would you not put your full weight behind Nikki Haley to stop Donald Trump by this spring?"

Christie responded by assessing that "Haley can't beat him because she doesn't want to," and speculated that Haley might settle for a VP spot on Trump's ticket, as she hasn't explicitly disavowed Trump as a viable presidential candidate the same way Christie has on the election trail so far.

Griffin again pressured Christie on dropping out of the race, telling him that "the latest polling has you at a margin that if all of your support went to Nikki Haley, it would put her over Trump in New Hampshire" before asking, "Wouldn't that still be a better gambit for democracy to have Nikki Haley as the nominee?"

Christie scoffed as he pushed back. "And how insulting to my voters that you would think that they would immediately just waltz over to Nikki Haley, even though Nikki Haley has called Donald Trump the right president for the right time," he said as Griffin looked on.

Later, Joy Behar — who admitted at the top of the show that she was happy to talk with Christie after previously feuding with him in 2014 after she roasted him at a celebrity event — accused the politician of a "cop out" when he said he wouldn't vote for Trump or Biden if they were respective party nominees on the November ballot.

Griffin has long spoken out against Trump, having regularly cautioned The View audience against voting for him on the talk show, and also calling him "dangerous" during an October 2023 speaking engagement alongside Trump whistleblower Cassidy Hutchinson in New York City.

The View airs weekdays at 11 a.m. ET on ABC.

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