1/15/19
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) in his new book claims that White House senior adviser Jared Kushner enacted a "hit job" against him as revenge for prosecuting Kushner's father years ago, according to The Guardian. Christie, who led President Trump's transition team until November 2016, writes in the new memoir, "Let Me Finish: Trump, the Kushners, Bannon, New Jersey, and the Power of In-Your-Face Politics," that former White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon fired him at Kushner's request, the outlet reported. “Steve Bannon … made clear to me that one person and one person only was responsible for the faceless execution that Steve was now attempting to carry out," Christie wrote. "Jared Kushner, still apparently seething over events that had occurred a decade ago." According to Christie, Bannon told him, “[Kushner's] been taking an ax to your head with [Trump] ever since I got here."
Christie prosecuted Kushner's father in 2005 when he served as U.S. attorney for New Jersey. Charles Kushner, a real estate tycoon, was charged with tax evasion and witness tampering, ultimately serving 14 months in federal prison after he pleaded guilty to 18 charges. Jared Kushner, however, believed it was "a matter to be handled by the family or by the rabbis," Christie wrote. Charles Kushner also pleaded guilty to charges involving his decision to hire a sex worker to seduce his brother-in-law, according to The Guardian, in an attempt to blackmail him. "[Jared Kushner] implied I had acted unethically and inappropriately but didn’t state one fact to back that up,” Christie writes in the book, according to The Guardian. “Just a lot of feelings — very raw feelings that had been simmering for a dozen years.” A spokesman for Jared Kushner did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
