- Chris Christie says he won't support Trump's 2024 run.
- The former New Jersey governor said he can't imagine voting for Joe Biden either, per Axios.
Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has vowed not to support former President Donald Trump in 2024, making him the first in a field of potential GOP presidential candidates to explicitly say so.
"I can't help him. No way," Christie told Axios in an interview published on Tuesday.
"Look, I just can't. When you have the Jan. 6 choir at a rally and you show video of it — I just don't think that person is appropriate for the presidency," Christie told Axios.
He was referring to "Justice for All," a song sung by a group of men incarcerated for their suspected role in the Capitol riot. Known collectively as the J6 Prison Choir, they sang a rendition of "The Star-Spangled Banner" from behind bars, with Trump adding a voiceover of the Pledge of Allegiance.
Trump played a video of the song at his campaign rally in Texas last week, per The Independent.
Christie said that he could not see himself voting for President Joe Biden, either, saying that "they're both too old."
"They're both out of touch with what's going on in the world right now," Christie, 60, told Axios.
Christie ran against Trump in 2016 but became an ally and a close advisor to Trump after the election. Even in 2021, he still said he would give Trump's presidency an overall "A" grade.
But Christie has distanced himself from Trump in the last year and is now a vocal Trump critic. In November, he called out other GOP politicians for being too scared to disavow Trump.
"There's a number of people who are considering running for president who still treat him like Voldemort, like 'He Who Shall Not Be Named,'" Christie told the Washington Examiner. "You're going to run against him? Say his name. You think he did something wrong? Say his name."
In March, Christie also commented that Trump being indicted in the Stormy Daniels hush money payments case would not help boost the former president's popularity.
Christie's comments to Axios come as he mulls a 2024 presidential bid of his own — which will put him on a collision course with Trump. He told Fox News on March 23 that he will "probably make a decision in the next 60 days on what to do or not to do."
Representatives for Trump and Christie did not immediately respond to Insider's requests for comment sent outside regular business hours.