Right before Chris Christie was about to step on a New Hampshire stage to announce he would end his 2024 presidential campaign, he confided in an old friend that Nikki Haley would soon get “smoked” by Donald Trump.
Unfortunately for Christie, much of that exchange was caught on a hot mic—which everyone listening to the campaign’s livestream could hear.
First, Christie began by defending his campaign’s effort despite a disappointing performance that culminated in his decision to drop out on Wednesday.
“People don’t wanna hear it, Wayne,” Christie told Wayne MacDonald, a longtime supporter and former New Hampshire Republican Party chairman. “We know we’re right, but they don’t wanna hear it. We couldn’t have been any clearer, we couldn’t have worked any harder… And look, she’s spent $68 million so far, just on TV… and we’ve spent 12. I mean, who’s punching above their weight?”
Christie did not say Haley’s name, but it was obvious he was talking about her. The former New Jersey governor then added insult to injury for Haley, who many anti-Trump Republicans believe could upset Trump in New Hampshire with a Christie endorsement.
“She’s gonna get smoked,” Christie said of Haley. “You and I both know it, she’s not up to this.”
As MacDonald was about to hear—along with several hundred others on the livestream feed—Christie was indeed resigned to his fate. Then the candidate brought up another rival, Ron DeSantis.
Christie said DeSantis called him, “petrified that I would…” before the sound abruptly cut out.
The campaign removed the video from YouTube a few minutes later. The Christie campaign did not immediately return a request for comment.
But the remaining campaigns quickly ran with the unscripted moment. In a post on X, DeSantis said, “I agree with Christie that Nikki Haley is ‘going to get smoked.'”
And on his Truth Social platform, Trump wrote, “I hear Chris Christie is dropping out of the race today—I might even get to like him again! Anyway, he was just caught on a hot mic making a very truthful statement.”
