Chris Christie Lies to Support His Campaign Narrative

In order to add more support for his idea that we need even more government spying, Chris Christie concocted a blatant lie, saying that he was appointed U.S. attorney the day before 9/11, when this isn’t true at all. According to Think Progress:

At the GOP primary debate Thursday night, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) misrepresented the timing of his appointment to a Department of Justice position by claiming to have been a United States Attorney at the time of the 9/11 attacks.

When Fox News’ Megyn Kelly asked Christie about his criticisms of Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who argues that extensive surveillance programs created in the wake of the attacks violate the Bill of Rights, Christie invoked his personal experience with the attacks and ensuing law enforcement activity.

“I was appointed U.S. Attorney by President Bush on September 10th, 2001, and the world changed enormously the next day, and that happened in my state. This is not theoretical to me,” Christie said. In his closing remarks, Christie repeated the claim and date.

Reports from the time suggest that Christie’s nomination to the vacant U.S. Attorney slot in New Jersey was widely anticipated prior to the attacks. The New Jersey Star-Ledger reported that the White House had contacted Christie on September 10 to tell him they had begun the six-week vetting process that would precede his nomination. But Bush didn’t actually nominate him until December 7 of that year, and he did not assume office until early 2002. The “Meet Chris” section on Christie’s campaign website says that he “served as U.S. Attorney from 2002-2008.”

An editorial in the New Jersey Star-Ledger from September 7, 2001, says “Bush is preparing to name Morris County attorney Chris Christie” to the position. The New York Times article from December marking the official nomination notes that it was “expected for months.” Christie was confirmed the next month, after New Jersey’s two senators agreed to support the nomination despite their concerns that Christie had no prosecutorial experience at the time.

Christie’s misrepresentation of the timeline of his appointment, first reported by Marcy Wheeler, was enough to mislead NBC News’ Andrea Mitchell on Thursday night’s post-debate broadcast. “Christie has not reminded people in a long time, he hasn’t had the forum to remind people, that he was a prosecutor on September 10th and September 11th, that he was locking up terrorists,” Mitchell said. Christie was not sworn in as a federal prosecutor until January 17, 2002.

What do you think? Should we as Americans let this little fib go or is this a big mistake that Christie shouldn’t be forgiven for?

Source: Think Progress