Why hasn't Mueller questioned Chris Christie yet?

[kentuck]

He was in charge of the Trump transition team while much of the dirty dealing with the Russians was going on.

And he still defends the integrity of Donald Trump. He does not believe that Trump is a "liar". He calls him a "salesman".

But, Christie is very much a passenger in the clown car. He has been from the beginning.

He has pretended to be an outsider since he was fired by Jared. In truth, he and Donald are very close friends and are like peas in a pod. Both are liars that cannot be trusted.

[jberryhill]

1. You have the list of people who have been questioned?

Could you share this list of yours?

[kentuck]

2. I don't have a list but...

I heard Christie say a couple of days ago that he had not been questioned.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

3. Do you think he's telling the truth?

[kentuck]

4. About whether he has met with Mueller?

I don't know. He's not an honest person. I guess we hear what we want to hear sometimes?

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. Also, keep in mind that people who are targets of investigations

usually are not questioned before they are indicted. I don't think Christie is a target, but who knows?

[kentuck]

6. Good point!

I did think it was interesting that Christie was very much aware of the details of the Flynn firing, and why, which he mentioned in his book. He was very much an insider, in my opinion.

[FakeNoose]

7. Chris Christie had to do his own fundraising for the transition

He has talked about it recently - however I haven't read the book yet so I'm just guessing it's in there. Chris Christie got his job on the campaign because he told Donald that he's required by law to have a transition team and a plan ready in case he won the election. Of course Trump had no interest in a transition team since he was pretty sure he wouldn't win anyway. Christie told him he HAD to have it by federal law. Trump said OK you do it, but I'm not giving you any money out of my campaign.

Christie went around to wealthy donors and got several $ million donated, and then he put together his transition team. Trump got wind of it and told him to shut it down. He screamed at Christie and said "I want my money!" Christie told him he can't shut it down, there has to be a transition team and a ready plan. Trump screamed, "I don't care, I want my money!" Soon after that Christie was fired and I believe this happened before the election.

During Christie's book promotion, many stories have circulated and this is one of them. None of the Russian collusion happened within earshot of Chris Christie, and it seems they deliberately kept him out of it. Kushner, Bannon and Donnie Jr. steered clear of Christie, as did many of the other campaign staff. Christie says he pretty much operated on his own for the few months that he headed the transition team.

As for Mueller having any interest in talking with Christie, it would seem that he'd be a lower priority because he had no knowledge of the Russian connections and he was gone before the election.

[RockRaven]

8. I can think of 3 reasons, in no particular order:

1) He's a target. Mueller has concluded Christie has done something wrong for which he must be prosecuted and punished. He views Christie as a big fish, someone to be nailed, not flipped. Or at least someone whose flipping is less valuable than the cost of letting him know he's a target. In this case, he doesn't want to interview him (at least yet) because the questioning will inevitably let Christie know what Mueller's team knows. Mueller is keeping his cards close to the vest to prevent Christie from organizing his defense/alibi in advance of being charged, or to keep Trump from knowing what he needs to pardon Christie for, specifically. Also, letting Christie know what he is facing would let other co-conspirators know what they are facing. When Christie goes down, he'll go down in a big group with all the other Trumplanders.

2) He's in the clear. Mueller doesn't see a case to make against Christie, but also does not expect any useful info from him which he does not already have from elsewhere. Remember Flynn is completely, entirely cooperative at this point. He's spilled his guts about everything including the transition. And Mueller has the transition's entire email records, and likely the phone records of everyone relevant too. If there's nothing in there which Christie can uniquely comment upon, maybe there is nothing expected to be gained by interviewing him now. Again investigatorial secrecy. Maybe Mueller will interview him after the big set of charges against the main Trumplanders get filed to get corroborative testimony about important points, but for now the expected info gained is less valuable than the secrecy which will be lost through the questioning.

3) He's given a weasel answer to the question of whether he's been interviewed yet. Maybe he was not questioned by *Mueller's team* precisely. Maybe he was questioned by a investigation team in SDNY or EDVA or some other US Attn office.