Chris Christie takes stage for CNN event with Anderson Cooper after harsh attacks on Trump – latest

Former New Jersey governor and 2024 presidential candidate Chris Christie will join CNN host Anderson Cooper tonight (12 June) for a town hall to discuss his campaign.

Mr Christie will take questions from Mr Cooper as well as a live audience of voters who say they plan to vote in the Republican presidential primary in their respective states.

The event will start 8pm EST.

Viewers with paying cable subscriptions can watch the town hall on CNN. Those without a cable login can stream the town hall on CNN.com, CNN’s mobile apps for iOS and Android and CNNgo.

The town hall will also be available on demand beginning Tuesday, 13 June.

Chris Christie criticised the spending records of recent Republican and Democratic administrations in Washington, while arguing for continued aid to Ukraine.

The former New Jersey Democrat accused Joe Biden of pouring money into “crazy programmes” and driving inflation, but also noted that Donald Trump left Americans with a massive deficit before him.

“Donald Trump spent more money than Barack Obama did in a four year period, and left us with…one of the biggest deficits any president has ever had,” he said.

Mr Christie added that the Ukraine war was important because it is a “proxy war” with China.

“We should be able to get our spending under control and we should be able to have a strong military that will stand up for friends around the world that are free,” he said. “My real concern about this is for your children and my grandchildren, are they going to live in a world where China is setting the tone for this world, a Communist dictatorship where they tell you about how many children you can have?”

In a scathing commentary, Chris Christie accused Donald Trump of “inexcusable” conduct and the rest of the Republican party of playing “games” to cover it up.

“This is vanity run amok. Ego run amok,” the former New Jersey governor said on Monday during a CNN town hall of Donald Trump’s mishandling of classified documents.

“He cannot live with the fact that he lost to Joe Biden,” Mr Christie added. “He wants to continue to pretend he’s president. He wants the trappings of the president around him, and one of those trappings is these documents.”

The 2024 candidate also had sharp words for his fellow Republicans who have refused to condemn Mr Trump’s conduct.

“It’s indefensible,” he went on. “They’re playing games.”

Mr Christie accused the Republicans of hedging their bets, waiting for Mr Trump to implode on his own before stepping out and offering any criticisms.

Chris Christie is hammering Donald Trump over his latest criminal indictment.

“The conduct in there is awful,” the former New Jersey governor said during a CNN town hall on Monday.

“That’s obstruction of justice if it’s true,” he added.

The 2024 candidate also said he thinks there are probably even worse revelations in store about Mr Trump’s conduct.

“There will guaranteed be a lot more. When you’re a prosecutor, you don’t put every card on the table before the trial.”

Here’s more info on the indictment.

Chris Christie is about to take the stage in a CNN town hall-style event, the former New Jersey governor’s biggest chance yet to campaign with the American public.

We’ll be covering all the biggest moments live.

Donald Trump and Chris Christie have gone from allies to enemies more times than the characters in Game of Thrones.

The former New Jersey governor has been Mr Trump’s campaign rival, administration adviser, and was once discussed as a possible Trump attorney general.

Here’s more background on their turbulent relationship.

Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie is likely to go after Donald Trump this evening during a townhall event on CNN.

But a potential barrage from the 2024 candidate doesn’t seem too high on the concern list for Mr Trump.

A campaign ad released today on Truth Social doesn’t mention Mr Christie at all, instead hammering Joe Biden and the “corrupt radical left prosecutors” who have brought criminal charges against Mr Trump.

On Monday, as Mr Trump boarded a private jet to Miami where he is set to face his second criminal indictment this year, the ex-president continued to rail against the Biden family.

“I WILL APPOINT A REAL SPECIAL ‘PROSECUTOR’ TO GO AFTER THE MOST CORRUPT PRESIDENT IN THE HISTORY OF THE USA, JOE BIDEN, THE ENTIRE BIDEN CRIME FAMILY, & ALL OTHERS INVOLVED WITH THE DESTRUCTION OF OUR ELECTIONS, BORDERS, & COUNTRY ITSELF!” fumed Mr Trump in an all-caps rant posted around noon.

Read more about how Donald Trump is handling this moment, and why it seems he has bigger fish to fry than his rivals in the 2024 field.

Chris Christie, who is barely polling in the single digits, could certainly use some allies.

Last week, sports fans were surprised when ESPN personality Stephen Smith threw his weight behind the former New Jersey governor’s longshot campaign.

“Yes, I know the Gov. Yes, he’s a friend. But this has nothing to do with endorsing him nor anyone else,” Mr Smith wrote on Twitter, attaching a link to the Christie campaign. “This is about helping the Gov get on that debate stage so we can all see who’s the best man or woman for the job.”

Mr Smith has said he previously voted for Joe Biden, but wants a new name to hold the White House in 2024, given Mr Biden’s advanced age.

“Somebody’s gotta say it, so I’m gonna say it: We need a new president in 2024. We need a new president,” Mr Smith said on his podcast last week.

“I voted for him, and based on some of the leading candidates on the right side, I’d probably be forced to vote for him again ’cause they scare the living hell outta me with some of the things that they’re preaching about. But I wouldn’t like it,” Mr Smith added.

Chris Christie is blazing his own path within the GOP when it comes to the issue of immigration.

Many in the Republican party and the conservative media apparatus have sought to paint every issue at the border as the result of Joe Biden’s policies, but the former New Jersey governor is reaching further back.

He argued earlier this month that criticisms of illegal immigration should be directed towards Donald Trump.

“It is his fault because he never changed one immigration law in the two years that he had Republican control of Congress,” Mr Christie said earlier this month while announcing his presidential campaign during an event in New Hampshire. “Not one immigration law did he change. He didn’t build the wall, and Mexico is laughing at the idea that they were going to pay for a wall on their border.”

As PolitiFact notes, Donald Trump issued an unprecedented 472 executive actions related to immigration, but didn’t put any long-term changes in place that reduced illegal migration or cleared asylum backlogs.

Tonight’s Chris Christie town hall will likely mention the recent federal indictment of Donald Trump for showing highly classified nuclear and military information to unauthorised persons.

The former New Jersey governor has made a point to criticise Mr Trump as being a loose canon and an untrustworthy figure to have in the White House.

Here’s more of our reporting on the indictment.