'Hug-a-holic' Chris Christie says Trump 'won't want to avoid hugs' during his second Texas trip Saturday, and says president showed a 'builder's confidence' during Austin visit
- New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie helped his state through Hurricane Sandy
- He defended President Trump's brief trip to Texas Tuesday
- Trump mentioned a crowd size and said 'congratulations' would be in order
- He met with officials away from the unfolding catastrophe in Houston amid concern about drawing away resources
- Said Trump 'won’t want to avoid hugging and making people feel better'
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says President Donald Trump 'won't want to avoid hugs' during his next trip to Texas, defending the president for not meeting with victims during his first trip.
Christie, who embraced President Obama during Hurricane Sandy in 2012, said the president's main mission during a brief Tuesday visit was to reassure flood-ravaged residents that they would recover.
He stressed the importance of public officials getting out in public in such situations – and predicted that Trump would be getting in close physical contact with devastated survivors soon.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says President Donald Trump 'won't want to avoid hugs' during his next trip to Texas, after an initial trip where Trump met with state and local officials but stayed away from the unfolding catastrophe
'He didn’t yesterday because he didn’t see the people. I will tell you that when you see those people and I know him, he won’t be able to avoid - and won’t want to avoid - hugging and making people feel better,' Christie told CNN Wednesday.
'The fact is yesterday was a competence day,' Christie explained, referring to Trump's initial trip.
The White House said Trump didn't want to go to Houston yet to avoid disrupting recovery efforts. Instead, he flew to Corpus Christie 30 miles away, and to Austin, where he got a briefing with state and local officials and his own cabinet members who came along.
Christie responded to some of Trump's comments that may have sounded off key to some.
President Barack Obama comforts Hurricane Sandy victim Dana Vanzant as he visits a neighborhood in Brigantine, New Jersey, on October 31, 2012
Democratic presidential candidate Bill Clinton gets a kiss from three-year-old Mercedes Williams (L), while holding two-year-old Glenn Moore Jr. 03 September, 1992. The children were at an aid station 03 September, in the aftermath of Hurricane Andrew, where they met Clinton who was touring the devastated areas of South Florida
President George W. Bush hugs hurricane victim Sandra Patterson whose home was destroyed September 2, 2005 in Biloxi, Mississippi
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) tries to comfort Alice Cimillo whose home was damaged by Superstorm Sandy November 1, 2012 in Moonachie, New Jersey
President Donald J. Trump and First Lady Melania Trump, joined by members of the Cabinet, arrive at the Corpus Christi International Airport, Tuesday, August 29, 2017, in Corpus Christi, Texas, to receive an onsite briefing on Hurricane Harvey storm relief and rescue efforts Tuesday, August 29, 2017, in Corpus Christi, Texas
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President Donald Trump speaks during a tour of the Texas Department of Public Safety Emergency Operations Center in Austin, Texas, U.S., August 29, 2017
Christie spoke about the importance of optics when a chief executive confronts a natural disaster
A car dealership is covered by Hurricane Harvey floodwaters near Houston, Texas August 29, 2017
ARE CONGRATULATIONS IN ORDER?: 'Trump told Texas Gov. Greg Abbott: 'We won't say congratulations. We don't want to do that'
'What a crowd, what a turnout,' said to a group of about a thousand people who lined a highway to see him on his visit.
Trump told Texas Gov. Greg Abbott: 'We won't say congratulations. We don't want to do that. We don't want to congratulate. We'll congratulate each other when it's all finished,' Trump said at another point.
'I think yesterday he was himself,' Christie told CNN's Chris Cuomo, whose father is New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo. Cuomo observed that Christie is a 'hug-a-holic' when asking about the president's performance meeting with Texans. Trump is famously germaphobic, but learned to shake countless hands during his run for the presidency and time in office.
Christie made his prediction of presidential hugs on CNN's 'New Day'
'What he wanted to show was the builder’s confidence yesterday. That we’re gonna come down here we’re going to fix it. He said “You’re going to get back on your feet quickly. We’re going to get it all done,” Christie added.
'Remember the difference here is he wasn’t in Houston. He wasn’t near victims,' Christie explained.
Christie also took a shot at Texas Sen. Ted Cruz, a former GOP presidential primary rival who blasted 'pork' in the Sandy relief package that had been stalled in Congress after the devastating hurricane.
'I see Sen. Cruz and it’s disgusting to me that he stands in a recovery center with victims standing behind him as a backdrop and he’s still repeating the same reprehensible lies about what happened in Sandy. And it’s unacceptable to me. Absolutely unacceptable,' said Christie.
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