Christie claims Kushner arranged his removal from Trump 2016 team over his dad's prosecution

US President Donald Trump’s son in law, Jared Kushner, orchestrated Chris Christie’s removal from the Trump 2016 team to avenge his father’s incarceration for tax evasion, reveals the former New Jersey governor in a new book.

In his newly-published book “Let Me Finish”, Christie said that Charles Kushner, father to Jared, was still “seething" from his prosecution by the former federal prosecutor.

Christie charged him with tax evasion, witness tampering and illegal campaign contributions in 2005 under a negotiated plea agreement.

Charles Kushner served 14 months of his two-year sentence in a federal prison prior to when he was dispatched to a halfway house to finish his prison term.

 “Jared Kushner, still apparently seething over events that occurred a decade ago, was exacting a plot of revenge against me, a hit job that made no sense at all for the man we had just helped elect,” Christie wrote in his book.

“What wimps, what cowards. And how disloyal to Donald Trump," Christie described Jared and Steve Bannon who, according to him, was “quietly acquiescing” to the plot against him.

Christie stressed that he was merely doing his job as a prosecutor when he charged Kushner’s father with multiple crimes.

“In an emotional handwritten letter in August, Charles Kushner, a major developer, political donor and philanthropist in New Jersey, apologized to his sister for hiring a prostitute to seduce her husband, who was cooperating in a federal investigation against him, and then sending her a videotape of the encounter,” The New York Times reported in 2005.

 “It’s one of the most loathsome, disgusting crimes that I prosecuted when I was US attorney,” Christie maintained.

Christie ran in the Republican caucus in 2016 before supporting Trump. He was speculated as a possible vice presidential candidate or attorney general pick. 

The media has monitored the enmity between Christie and Kushner for a long time and the feud has been viewed as the reason behind Christie’s failure to secure a high-profile job in the Trump administration.

Christie also criticized Trump’s government shutdown, saying he “blew it” because he did not have a plan to get out of the stalemate.

"If you’re going to do this you better have an exit plan, because sometimes in politics things don’t go the way you expect," Christie said.

Trump shut down the government over his $5.7bn worth demand for an infamous wall that he has promised to build on the US-Mexico border. The standoff cost $11bn in the end. 

PressTV-US shutdown cost twice as much as Trump’s wall

The shutdown cost $11 billion, almost two times the $5.7 billion Trump had asked for his border wall, a US congressional body says.

The shutdown took 35 days, starting on December 22 and ending temporarily when Trump and the Congress representatives reached a three-week-long agreement, which did not include Trump's demanded funding.

Trump threatened to shut down the government again or resort to emergency if Congress would not fund the wall. 

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.ir