Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said Trump had failed to provide any evidence of fraud, that his legal team was in shambles and that it was time to put the country first.
“If you have evidence of fraud, file it,” said Christie on ABC, where he works as a shareholder. He denounced the President’s attorney’s efforts to discredit Republican conservatives who did not go along with the president’s false allegations of voter wrongdoing.
“Quite frankly, the behavior of the president’s legal team was a national embarrassment,” he said, retracing the accusations of Trump’s lawyer Sydney Powell against Georgia’s Republican Gov. Brian Kemp.
“This is outrageous behavior on the part of any lawyer,” Christie said on Sunday, noting that Trump’s attorneys have brought wild charges in public but have not yet raised them in court, where there are consequences for providing false information.
He said, “They allege fraud outside the courtroom, but when they enter the courtroom, they are not claiming fraud and they are not arguing with fraud.”
Christie concluded, saying, “Listen, I was a supporter of the president. I voted for him twice, but the elections have consequences, and we cannot continue to act as if nothing happened here had not happened.”
He continued: “If you do not want to advance and provide evidence, then this means that the evidence is not there.” “The country is the most important. As much as I am a strong Republican and love my party, the country should come first.”
“I agree with the campaign statement that I am not a member of the campaign’s legal team,” Powell said in a statement later on Sunday night. “I have never signed a retainer agreement or sent the president or campaign a bill for my expenses or fees. My goal has always been to expose all the frauds I could find and let the chips fall into place – whether it’s on Republicans or Democrats, pledging to file a lawsuit.” Epic “this week.
We are starting to look like a banana republic
Maryland Republican Gov. Larry Hogan also harshly criticized Trump’s efforts on Sunday, telling CNN correspondent Jake Tapper on the “State of the Union” program that he was “embarrassed because more people in the party aren’t talking” about what he called the “strange” moves.
Rep. Fred Upton of Michigan also stressed the need for a smooth transition on Sunday, saying the absence of one of them casts unnecessary doubts into the upcoming administration.
He said, “By not allowing security and health vacations, the natural transition from one president to another only leads to more uncertainty and threatens a peaceful transition that could undermine the next administration.” Dana Bash from CNN on “Inside Politics”.
“When you slow down, when you fail to validate the results, and when you add all that doubt, that makes it very problematic, then, for the next administration, to start with its feet on the ground,” Upton said.
This story has been updated with additional developments on Sunday.
Jeremy Diamond and Michael Warren contributed to this report.