Chris Christie has accused President Joe Biden of ‘lying’ about the contents of a massive infrastructure spending proposal — but quickly faced questions about his own credentials on infrastructure from critics who recalled his infamous ‘Bridgegate’ scandal.
‘You cannot call a $400 billion plan, to force unionization in states, to say that taking care of increasing Medicaid payments in states is infrastructure,’ Christie said Sunday on ABC News’ This Week.
‘This is the care economy. This is care infrastructure. It’s baloney,’ he added. ‘Lying is not popular. It’s not infrastructure.’
Host George Stephanopoulos pressed his guest, asking, ‘Do you really want to use the word lie there?’
Chris Christie has accused President Joe Biden of ‘lying’ about the contents of a massive infrastructure spending proposal
Biden plans to meet with a bipartisan group of U.S. House and Senate lawmakers Monday on his proposed $2.3 trillion infrastructure and jobs plan
‘Let’s just be fair here. If Donald Trump had come out and called a dog a cat, which is what Joe Biden’s doing, we would be outraged by the fact that he’s lying. But with Joe Biden, somehow it’s like, oh well, come on, it’s Joe,’ Christie fired back.
Lawmakers in Congress are currently are debating the $2 trillion jobs and infrastructure bill Biden unveiled last week, which includes funding for physical infrastructure such as roads and bridges, as well as telecommunications, power grid, and water management.
Christie doubled down in his criticism in a tweet later on Sunday, writing: ‘President Biden needs to level with the American people about the fact that his ‘infrastructure’ package is a $2.25 trillion liberal wish list with only about 25% being spent on traditional infrastructure like roads, bridges, tunnels and rails. Be honest with us Mr. President.’
But the Republican former governor of New Jersey came in for criticism of his own, with many recalling the infamous 2013 ‘Bridgegate’ scandal.
The term refers to a week of ruinous lane closures on the New Jersey side of the George Washington Bridge into Manhattan, allegedly in political retaliation against the Democratic mayor of Fort Lee, where traffic ground to a halt.
Critics of Christie said his infamous Bridgegate scandal made him unqualified to comment on infratructure. Pictured, traffic backs up at the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee
The incident resulted in a criminal investigation and convictions of Christie aides, but Christie himself was never charged.
‘Highly unpopular former governor Chris Christie should take a long hard look in the mirror and think about one thing: Bridgegate’ one Twitter user wrote.
‘Under Chris Christie New Jersey ranked 49th out of 50 states in private sector job growth, endured the Bridgegate closure scandal and all of a sudden Donald Trump’s casinos $30 million in taxes owed disappeared. I don’t think Chris Christie has room to talk about anything,’ another added.
‘Chris Christie, an authority on bridges and the politics around them, weighs in on Biden’s infrastructure package,’ one wrote.
‘Let’s hear from Chris Christie, the criminal behind #Bridgegate, on what he thinks of infrastructure. Stop putting this heel on TV,’ another retorted.
Biden plans to meet with a bipartisan group of U.S. House and Senate lawmakers Monday on his proposed $2.3 trillion infrastructure and jobs plan, sources briefed on the matter told Reuters on Friday.
Senator Deb Fischer, the senior Republican on the Commerce Committee’s subcommittee that oversees surface transportation and other issues, was invited to attend the meeting, a spokeswoman said.
White House spokeswoman Jen Psaki said on Wednesday that Biden would ‘welcome members of both parties here when they return next week.’ The White House declined to comment Friday.
