Lorenzo Bevilaqua/ABC via Getty Images
- Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie says he has concerns about Biden’s vaccine mandate for employers.
- The day before, Christie tweeted out a video of himself criticizing Trump at the Reagan Library.
- Many on Twitter called Christie “tone deaf” as the video was posted on the 20th anniversary of 9/11.
- See more stories on Insider’s business page.
Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie supports getting the COVID-19 vaccine, but he thinks President Joe Biden’s new mandate for private employers is “on shaky ground” legally.
“Working for the government and ordering government workers to have a mandate, there is one thing,” Christie said Sunday on ABC’s “This Week with George Stephanopoulos.”
“Extending that to two-thirds of all the jobs and make it either get vaccinated or not, it’s also contradictory logically,” Christie said.
The White House last week rolled out a new series of rules in an attempt to stop the spread of the coronavirus, as cases again surgeand the vaccination rate in the country far too low to support herd immunity. Biden’s new rules require private employers with more than 100 employees to mandate vaccines or weekly testing. Federal employees and healthcare workers are also required to be vaccinated, per Biden’s new plan. The administration will also enforce fines of up to $14,000 per violation for employers that ignore these mandates.
Many of Christie’s fellow Republicans have lashed out at Biden’s new mandate, saying it oversteps by making demands of the private sector, and have threatened lawsuits and disobedience.
“I think they’re really on shaky ground as to whether they can force this or not. So, it’s subject to legal challenge,” Christie said. The government needs to be “persuasive” but “let people get vaccinated on their own accord,” he added.
Meantime, Christie, a former federal prosecutor and 2020 presidential candidate, has been taking heat forlashing out at former ally, ex-President Donald Trump, in a series of tweets posted on the 20th anniversary of the Sept. 11 terror attacks.
Christie tweeted out a video of himself speaking at the Reagan Library in Simi Valley, California, where he said the Republican Party should disassociate with Trump. He called Trump’s supporters “conspiracy theorists.”
“The Democrats will not be defeated without sound alternatives to their flawed ideas,” Christie tweeted with the video. “Calling them wrong is not enough. Calling them names is immature & ineffective. Pretending we won when we lost is a waste of time, energy & credibility.”
Some on Twitter criticized Christie for sharing the video on the 20th anniversary of 9/11 instead of writing something in remembrance. Some called him “tone deaf” and replied with comments like “this is what you choose to put out on 9.11?” and “it could have waited a day.”
-Governor Christie (@GovChristie) September 11, 2021
“I said what I believed on Thursday night, and it’s what I’m going to continue to believe,” Christie said told Stephanopoulos on Sunday.
Many believe that Christie will again run for president in 2024 and that his stop at the Regan Library, where many aspiring GOP presidential candidates have spoken before, is laying the groundwork.
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