Chris Christie made the rounds on Sunday morning to talk about the Russia probe, and he asserted his belief that President Trump is not under investigation, according to what he's gathered.
The investigation by special counsel Robert Mueller kicked up a notch on Friday with reports that charges had been approved by a federal grand jury, and that an indictment could be seen as early as Monday morning in connection with Russia's meddling in the 2016 presidential election.
"I would say the important thing about today for the American people to know is the president is not under investigation," Christie told CBS' Face the Nation. "No one has told him that he is. He's been cooperating fully with the special counsel's office."
Face the Nation faced some backlash after tweeting out: ".@GovChristie confirms that President Trump is not under investigation."
But they quickly issued a correction:
Christie also criticized the leaks regarding the grand jury charges, telling CNN's Jake Tapper that we should be "concerned" about "the fact that CNN has this information."
"As you know, Jake, there are very, very strict laws on grand jury secrecy, and so depending upon who leaked this to CNN, that's a criminal violation, potentially," Christie warned, before reiterating that President Trump isn't under investigation.
Tapper used Christie's own argument against him, however, wondering how Christie got his information about President Trump not being under investigation, to which Christie claimed that it was received publicly.
Christie didn't go so far as to indicate that Mueller should step down, as many on the right have been urging, but he did issue a warning, saying, "He has to be very, very careful about making sure that the public believes he has no conflicts and that his integrity is unquestioned."
As for whoever gets charged? Don't expect a pardon from Trump, Christie said.
"That’s a very important power to use. And I haven't heard the president say anything like that, and I think we shouldn't get ahead of ourselves. … It’s a big step."
Twitter wasn't buying what Christie was selling, however:
And now we wait for Monday to see who gets taken down:
On Monday it was announced that Paul Manafort, Trump's former campaign chairman, and a former associate of his, Rick Gates, were charged with 12 counts of “conspiracy against the United States, conspiracy to launder money, unregistered agent of a foreign principal, false and misleading FARA statements, false statements, and seven counts of failure to file reports of foreign bank and financial accounts.” In addition, former Trump campaign advisor George Papadopoulos pled guilty to lying to the FBI about contacts he had with Russian operatives.
Watch Christie's full CNN interview below:
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