Chris Christie Blows Up Over Woodward Book Quoting Trump As Accusing Him Of Stealing From Campaign

USA Today reports:

President Donald Trump accused former New Jersey governor Chris Christie of “stealing from me” and feared that a presidential transition team was “jinxing” his chances of victory during the 2016 presidential campaign, according to journalist Bob Woodward’s new book on the Trump White House.

In one passage from “Fear: Trump in the White House,” Woodward described a scene in which then-candidate Trump summoned Christie to Trump Tower along with campaign CEO Steve Bannon. Trump was angry to learn that Christie, whom he made head of his transition team in May 2016, was raising money for the team’s operations.

“Where the (expletive) is the money?” Trump asked Christie, according to Woodward. “I need money for my campaign. I’m putting money in my campaign and you’re (expletive) stealing from me.”

And here comes the inevitable infighting:

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) is accusing former White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon of being a “co-author” of the tell-all White House book by veteran journalist Bob Woodward.

“Unfortunately, it appears Bob Woodward has used perpetual leaker Steve Bannon as a co-author for his book,” Christie tweeted, referencing Woodward’s “Fear: Trump in the White House,” which hit shelves on Tuesday.

To be clear, a number of the statements attributed to me and from others to me in the Woodward book are incorrect. I would have been happy to correct them if Mr. Woodward or any member of his staff would have called me, as a person they were quoting, for standard fact checking.

— Governor Christie (@GovChristie) September 11, 2018

If Mr. Woodward would have performed rudimentary journalistic fact checking with those he was quoting, he would have had a more accurate book rather than just being a stenographer for Mr. Bannon’s self-aggrandizing revisionist history.

— Governor Christie (@GovChristie) September 11, 2018

“Unfortunately, it appears Bob Woodward has used perpetual leaker Steve Bannon as a co-author for his book. His non-stop, self-centered leaking is why Steve was fired from the White House in the first place.

— Governor Christie (@GovChristie) September 11, 2018