Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie has quit the race to be the Republicans’ choice for president with a parting shot at frontrunner Donald Trump.
Mr Christie’s decision to drop out came days before Iowa's caucus, the first of the nationwide Republican votes to decide the party’s candidate for the presidential race.
Addressing supporters at a New Hampshire town hall on Wednesday, Mr Christie said he had come to the conclusion that he had no pathway to victory - and warned of the dangers of electing Donald Trump.
"Campaigns are run to win. That's why we do them," he said. "It's clear to me tonight that there isn't a path for me to win the nomination."
"My goal has never been to be just a voice against the hate and division and the selfishness of what our party has become under Donald Trump," he added.
“I am going to make sure that in no way do I enable Donald Trump to ever be president of the United States again. And that's more important than my own personal ambition.”
He did not immediately endorse any of rivals and instead continued to criticise them for failing to directly confront Mr Trump for fear of alienating potential voters.
Mr Christie was overheard in a ‘hot mic’ incident before a caucus debate began criticising former United Nations Ambassador Nikki Haley, who is also running.
“She's going to get smoked," he said in an audio broadcast on the campaign's livestream feed. “She's not up to this."
He was also overheard saying Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis had called him, petrified, but the audio was cut before he finished the thought.
Ms Haley responded in a statement calling Christie “a friend for many years," and commending him "on a hard-fought campaign."
Meanwhile, Mr DeSantis posted on X, formerly Twitter, that he agreed with him that Ms Haley would "get smoked."
Mr Christie's dropout comes as a surprise, given the former governor had staked his campaign on New Hampshire's primary, which is less than two weeks away.
He had insisted as recently as Tuesday night that he had no plans to leave the race, continuing to cast himself as the only candidate willing to tell the truth and directly take on the former president.
Despite numerous court cases pending against him, and the January 6, 2021 insurrection attempt at the Capitol, Mr Trump is still seen as the favourite to win the nomination, due to his popularity with the Republican Party base.
