Chris Christie

January 6 was a riot that was incited by Donald Trump, in an effort to intimidate Mike Pence and the Congress into doing exactly what he said in his own words last week, overturn the election.

the events leading up to January 6 were -- quote -- "driven from the top" and that Trump surrounded himself with C teamers who told him what he wanted to hear.

He`ll release them when the audit is over.

If we want to be a winning party again, we got to look forwards and go after Joe Biden.

We have to stop looking backwards. That’s the point of the book. That’s the message of the book.

He was not guilty. He shouldn`t have been indicted. And we should now move forward. And I hope that everyone will leave this young man alone now and let him go to living his life.

But more importantly, Brian, it`s about the party as a whole. And the book is laying out a prescription and a path forward that doesn`t engage in a Republican and Republican crime and violence, doesn`t engage in making sure that there`s…

But I will tell you this that I disagree with the premise of your question in this respect. There`s a new poll out just today from the Des Moines Register of Iowa Republicans and I can tell you from having been there for a significant…

To me, that shows the resilience of our democracy. That in the end, the leaders -- people like Mitch McConnell and Nancy Pelosi, they got everybody back on that floor and they did their job.

We need to face the realities of the 2020 election and learn not hide from them. We need to renounce the conspiracy theorists and truth deniers, the ones who know better and the ones who are just playing nuts. We need to quit wasting our…

And that's why I wrote the book because someone has to start that conversation on our side of the aisle.

If we want to be an appropriate counterweight to that, we can't be talking about what you and I are talking about right now.

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris right now are putting forward their agenda and trying to get it through, which they have every right to do because they won the election.

I would have supported this Committee -- the Select Committee if Nancy Pelosi would have allowed Kevin McCarthy to put on the Committee who he wanted to put on the Committee.

If you continue to say stuff like he said in that statement and continue to dwell on 2020, then no, that's not good and that's why I wrote the book. That is why we need rescuing.

He has been good for the Republican Party in some ways. He has expanded the Republican Party's reach.

What I'm saying in this book and I have been saying in a speech that the President critiqued at the Republican Jewish Coalition last weekend or at the Reagan Library in September is that we have to be the party now that is talking about…

You can't stand behind the seal of the President and the East Room of the White House and tell the American people the election was stolen when you have no evidence to prove that it was.

I`ve always been about the truth and he lost the election in 2020.

But now, what I am saying to folks is --

What I said there, I absolutely believed that he was our strongest option that was left when I said those things.

That`s the party that I write the book about, that I am attempting to give a path forward on, that doesn`t practice grievance politics, doesn`t look in the rearview mirror, but looks forward to provide an effective truthful counter to the…

Sixty two percent said the Republican Party, 26 percent said Donald Trump.

We have to have a viable two-party system in this country. We have to be able to contrast different ideas, give voters choices. And to do that, we have to, once again, become the party of truth.

What I said in the book was that he has to take responsibility for that. And I believe everybody should have an opportunity to change their minds.