Chris Christie — a onetime Trump ally turned foe — calls the case laid out in the indictment 'devastating'

• Chris Christie, once a Donald Trump ally, called the facts of the federal indictment "devastating."
• The former New Jersey governor and former US attorney spoke to CNN's Jake Tapper on Friday.

Chris Christie made a compelling case for why people should pay attention to the recent federal indictment of former President Donald Trump.

On Friday evening, Christie was one of two rivals not to defend Trump over the 37-count indictment against the former president.

"These facts are devastating," Christie, a former US attorney, told CNN's Jake Tapper on Friday.

"People are going to argue about who should and who should not have been indicted and who should be tried, but let me say this, the bigger issue for our country is, is this the conduct that we want from someone who wants to be president of the United States?" he asked.

"To take national security documents involving warfare and our nuclear program, to keep them in their home when they're not allowed to do so, exposing them to potentially being seen by any number of people, and then actually showing them to people — showing off — this is irresponsible conduct," Christie continued.

The former New Jersey governor was once pivotal to Trump's success. During the 2016 primaries, Christie dropped out and roughly two weeks later endorsed then-candidate Trump — the first GOP governor to do so — ahead of Super Tuesday.

The relationship has since soured. Christie is now running against Trump in the 2024 GOP primary.

Trump has denied any wrongdoing and has instead railed against special counsel Jack Smith.