Fox News host Harris Faulkner and former White House Press Secretary Ari Flescher said Wednesday's audio leak of former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie may have been intentional.
Faulkner questioned how seasoned politician Christie wasn't aware a microphone would be hot when the former New Jersey governor made his comments about GOP presidential candidates Nikki Haley and Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
“First of all, if you care about your political party and you’ve been in politics as long as Chris Christie, do you really not know that mic is not hot?” Faulkner said. “I mean, I don’t know. I guess we’ll never know. I refuse to believe that until he tells that publicly. And what he said was explosive against those other two candidates.”
Fleischer said the leaked audio showed Christie, who ended his presidential campaign on Wednesday, believes "he is the only one" qualified for President.
"The fact that he won’t endorse anybody else, and obviously won’t endorse Donald Trump,” Fleischer agreed. “The cynic makes you think, now maybe he’s going to try to pivot back to President Trump after being the one who denounced President Trump.”
Faulkner suggested Christie may throw support behind President Joe Biden's re-election campaign, to which Fleischer laughed and said he didn't believe that would happen. The former press secretary said he believes Christie may seek a third party run in lieu of endorsing any candidates for president.
“The real place to keep your eye out for Chris Christie is No Labels," Fleischer said. "Is he going to be the one who now tries to carry the No Labels mantle, and maybe that reads to that hot mic moment. He knew what he was doing and he’s going to try to set himself up for a run down the middle.”
On Wednesday, audio of Christie commenting on both Haley and DeSantis was released on X. In the audio, Christie can be heard suggesting Haley was "gonna get smoked" and DeSantis was "petrified."
"She spent $68 million so far just on TV," Christie said of Haley in the audio, noting DeSantis had spent $59 million while Christie's own campaign had spent $12 million. "I mean, who's punching above their weight? Who's getting a return on their investment?"
"She's gonna get smoked. You and I both know it, she's not up for this," Christie added of Haley.
In the audio, another person is heard noting Haley trails former President Donald Trump in polls by about 20 points, to which Christie noted he had also spoken with DeSantis.
"DeSantis called me petrified that I would—" Christie says as another person suggested the Florida governor may exit the race after the Iowa caucus.
Christie dropped his presidential campaign shortly after the audio was leaked.
