Furious Chris Christie's 'Off-Camera' Interaction with Megyn Kelly Caught on Video
Long-shot Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie has a lot to be rankled about these days.
His war of words with former President Donald Trump has not translated into a surge in the polls. The former New Jersey governor is very much facing an uphill climb at 2.6 percent support.
That frustration appeared to bubble over during Wednesday night’s final (for now) GOP primary debate, when a surly Christie was seen exchanging words with moderator Megyn Kelly during a commercial break.
Chris Christie appears to go and complain to Megyn Kelly after intense yelling match with Vivek over Nikki Haley. #GOPDebate pic.twitter.com/uYnPZuzysp
— Noah Griffith (@Noah_Griffith_) December 7, 2023
A clip of the interaction swiftly went viral, and Kelly addressed it during Thursday’s episode of “The Megyn Kelly Show.”
“All over the internet last night was a video that went viral of somebody in the balcony filming Chris Christie coming over to yours truly during a break at the end of the first hour and kind of getting up in my grill,” Kelly said. “And there was all sorts of speculation about what was happening there.
“I will tell you what was happening there. It was not off the record.
“He was mad that he wasn’t getting enough questions,” Kelly explained. “He said, ‘You know, I made it up on this stage and I haven’t been able to speak in a while and, you know, I should have been brought in on that last debate.'”
“I said, ‘We’re coming to you. You’re going to be happy in the second hour,’ which I lived up to.”
Kelly later added a bit of a jab, saying Christie’s polling numbers just didn’t justify giving him exceptional amounts of speaking time.
“I’m sorry, Gov. Christie,” Kelly said. “That’s the way it is.”
Kelly then cited CNN, which reported the following speaking times for each of the candidates in Wednesday’s debate:
- Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy got 22 minutes of speaking time.
- Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis got 21 minutes.
- Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley got 17 minutes.
- Christie got 16 minutes and 52 seconds.
Interestingly enough, the candidates’ speaking times did accurately reflect their polling positions — with the notable exception of Ramaswamy, who spoke the most despite sitting in fourth place in the race at 4.7 percent.
DeSantis, polling at 13 percent, is the only GOP primary candidate within 50 points of Trump. At 10.9 percent, Haley is the only other candidate polling in double figures.
Christie, as previously mentioned, is in a distant fifth place at 2.6 percent.
Trump, the prohibitive favorite, is currently polling at 61.3 percent.
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