Chris Christie was targeted with a smattering of boos as he was introduced Wednesday evening during the first Republican debate.
The ex-governor of New Jersey appeared to have a few critics in the audience as his name was announced by co-moderators Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum.
The moment was not particularly surprising — while Mr Christie remains competitive in polls (and even cementing a second-place status in New Hampshire), he has provoked anger from diehard supporters of Donald Trump with his frequent criticism of the GOP ex-president. Mr Christie has in particular been open about his view that Mr Trump inspired the January 6 attack on the Capitol.
The boos did not continue as Mr Christie gave his first response to a question.
Mr Christie previously served on the debate prep team for Mr Trump in both 2016 and 2020; in the months leading up to January 6, however, he strongly condemned the effort by Mr Trump to cast doubt on the veracity of the election results.
He has since said that Mr Trump’s various prosecutions, which unlike other Republicans he has not cast as political witch hunts, will weigh down the Republican frontrunner past the point where they can be competitive in a general election.
Sharing that view, however, drew boos once again later in the debate.
“The great thing about this country is, booing is allowed but it doesn’t change the truth,” Mr Christie said as he admonished the crowd. He went on to say that however people felt about the criminal charges against Mr Trump, “the conduct was beneath” the office of the presidency.
”Someone has to stop normalizing this conduct,” Mr Christie added.
Mr Christie was then attacked by fellow competitor Vivek Ramaswamy, who derided him as running a campaign centred around attacking Mr Trump.
