Chris Christie skewers Trump for using PAC money on legal fees

Chris Christie has some backhanded financial advice for his one-time friend Donald Trump: sell Trump Tower.

The former New Jersey governor blasted the GOP frontrunner over revelations his Super PAC dipped into donor dollars to foot Trump’s legal expenses.

“Most of the money that middle-class Americans have given to him, he spent on his own legal fees,” Christie said on CNBC’s “Squawk Box” Tuesday.

“I mean, this guy’s a billionaire, and how about go down the street — maybe just sells Trump Tower and pay for his legal fees that way,” Christie continued. “Or maybe sell the plane, he could do that, or one of the golf courses.”

Trump’s Save America PAC has shelled out over $20 million in legal expenses for the former president and his allies, recent filings for the first half of the year revealed.

Multiple reports suggested the real figure is closer to $40 million.

Save America PAC also spent some $108,000 to a French-born stylist who designed Melania Trump’s ivory white inaugural gown, during the first half of the year, which Christie panned as “astonishing.”

Since jumping into the 2024 arena, Christie, 60, has positioned himself as a proud Trump attack dog, unleashing a relentless stream of broadsides against the 77-year-old.

Trump, a well-known rhetorical wrangler, has been uncharacteristically tame in response, largely training his verbal firepower on high-polling aspirants like Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis instead.

He has, however, occasionally savaged Christie in return, bashing him as a “slob” or poking fun at his weight.

Trump is staring down mounting legal perils.

He has already been slapped with a 34-count indictment out of Manhattan over alleged hush money payments and a federal indictment for hoarding of classified documents, recently bumped up to 40 counts.

The former president was hit with yet another indictment Tuesday afternoon when special counsel Jack Smith charged Trump with four counts in connection to his attempts to overturn the 2020 election after he was defeated by Joe Biden.

The former president has denied wrongdoing and accused prosecutors of harboring deep political biases against him.

Christie has been critical of the first indictment but indicated publicly he feels Trump might be in trouble with the second one.

The two were once close friends, dating back to the former governor’s days as US attorney for the district of New Jersey in the early 2000s.

Trump considered him for multiple Cabinet posts, but the pair’s rapport appears to have deteriorated since.

At the moment, Christie is polling in a distant seventh place in the RealClearPolitics aggregate of polls, with Trump far ahead.

Christie also mused that many donors yearning for an alternative to Trump have yet to settle on a GOP hopeful.

“I’m finding is that most of the major donors are giving a little bit to people but as you can see from the reports that were filed yesterday, but not going all in on anybody yet, and I think they’re still trying to figure this race out,” he said.