'A criminal enterprise': Christie says Trump will be 'convicted this spring' on Jan. 6 charges

Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie believes former President Donald Trump will be a convicted felon by spring of 2024, according to a Tuesday morning interview on MSNBC.

While speaking on a panel hosted by MSNBC's Willie Geist, Christie — who was a US Attorney for the District of New Jersey between 2002 and 2008 — said Trump's conviction is almost assured based on the fact that former White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows struck an immunity deal with special counsel Jack Smith this fall.

"[Trump is] gonna be convicted this spring in Washington on the January 6 stuff," Christie said. "I was around the White House during that time. Mark Meadows was like velcro to Trump's hip. He was with him every minute of the day. He knows everything that was discussed... With an immunity deal, he has no reason not to tell the absolute truth, which also includes that he engaged in committing crimes as well. And so, here we have a criminal enterprise going on at the White House, and we want to send this back?"

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The former New Jersey governor, who is running in the 2024 Republican presidential primary, also criticized his GOP rivals for "pretending to run for president" as they have so far relented from outwardly opposing the ex-president.

"When we were at the debate, and the one complaint I did have about the last debate, was there was not one question about Donald Trump. I'm like, are we pretending that we're the only five candidates up here for president? And it's amongst us?" Christie said. "The guy that's 20, 30 points ahead of all of us, we're not gonna even bring him up and talk about him?"

"This is the kind of stuff that drives me crazy," he added.

Christie has cemented himself as the most anti-Trump candidate of the GOP field. His campaign has started to gain traction in the first-in-the-nation primary state of New Hampshire, where RealClearPolitics' aggregate polling data shows him in third place behind Trump and former UN ambassador Nikki Haley with 11.3% support. Nationally, Christie has just 2.3% support and is polling behind Trump, Haley, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis and businessman Vivek Ramaswamy.

READ MORE: 'Existential crisis': How Chris Christie's refusal to drop out of GOP race 'comes at a cost'

Watch the video of Christie's comments below, or by clicking this link.