Recap
Chris Christie made a rather contrite presidential announcement. “I can’t guarantee you success,” he said at a New Hampshire town hall. The former New Jersey governor with a hot-and-cold relationship with Donald Trump has pitched himself as the only Republican willing to fully stand up to the former president.
Here’s what else :
US intelligence knew of a Ukrainian plan to blow up the Nord Stream pipeline, though it’s unclear if Kyiv was actually behind its sabotage.
The White House will “assess” whether an attack on a dam that flooded a swath of southern Ukraine amounts to a war crime, US national security council spokesman John Kirby said.
Trump has feuded with Fox News’ straight-news division, but will on 19 June sit down for an interview with it for the first time since his 2020 election defeat.
Federal investigators are looking into a swimming pool that was drained at Mar-a-Lago and into a room full of servers containing surveillance footage of the resort, according to a report.
A federal judge has granted media requests to release the names of people who co-signed George Santos’s $500,000 bond in his criminal fraud case, according to the Hill.
An effort by House Republicans to stop the government from banning gas stoves and change the federal rule-making process has been blocked by a revolt from within the party.
– Maanvi Singh and Chris Stein
Updated
“The reason I’m going after Trump is twofold: one, he deserves it, and two, it’s the way to win,” Christie said. “I’m going after him to take out Donald Trump but here’s why: I want to win.”
He’s insisted he’s not running just to to take down Trump. He told Politico: “I’m not a paid assassin.” He also said that Trump “needs to be called out and … needs to be called out by somebody who knows him. Nobody knows Donald Trump better than I do.”
The two have a long history.
Under Christie’s watch, Trump’s indebted casinos in New Jersey paid just $.17 on the dollar of what they owed. After running against Trump in the 2016 presidential race, he endorsed Trump, and became a key adviser and was regarded as a top contender for running mate.
Updated
