Chris Christie Shreds Jared Kushner's Father: 'One Of the Most Loathsome, Disgusting Crimes That I Prosecuted'

Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie shredded Jared Kushner's father—who he once prosecuted for tax evasion, illegal campaign contributions and witness tampering—during a segment on PBS's Firing Line With Margaret Hoover on Tuesday.

"I want to talk about Jared Kushner, because, frankly, it comes down to... he's the one who fired you," Hoover said during the interview, before Christie responded: "That's what Steve Bannon told me, yes."

"You believe that because there's history between the two of you," the public affairs show host continued.

"Between me and his father, not between me and him," Christie, who served as the 55th Governor of New Jersey between 2010 and 2018, clarified.

"Would you separate your experience if your father had been put in jail from the prosecutor who put him in jail?" Hoover pressed, referring to the fact that Christie was the former U.S. Attorney who put billionaire real estate developer Charles Kushner behind bars in the mid-2000s.

Christie responded: "If my father was guilty, I would. Mr. Kushner pled guilty. He admitted the crimes. And so what am I supposed to do as a prosecutor? I mean, if a guy hires a prostitute to seduce his brother-in-law and videotapes it, and then sends the videotape to his sister, to attempt to intimidate her from testifying before a grand jury, do I really need any more justification than that?"

"I mean, it's one of the most loathsome, disgusting crimes that I prosecuted when I was U.S. Attorney. And I was U.S. Attorney in New Jersey, Margaret, so we had some loathsome and disgusting crime going on there," he added.

Christie made headlines in 2004 when then 50-year-old Charles Kushner pleaded guilty to 16 counts of assisting in the filing of false tax returns, one count of retaliating against a cooperating witness and one count of making false statements to the Federal Election Commission. Shortly after, the U.S. Attorney released a statement calling the deal "a great victory for the people of New Jersey."

At the time of the conviction, Jared Kushner studying business and law at New York University. Years later, in 2014, he admitted to The Real Deal, a New York real estate news publication, that it was his father's proceedings that put him off the idea of being a criminal lawyer.

"My dad's arrest made me realize I didn't want to be a prosecutor anymore," Kushner said. "The law is so nuanced. If you're convicting murderers, it's one thing. It's often fairly clear. When you get into things like white-collar crime, there are often a lot of nuances. Seeing my father's situation, I felt what happened was obviously unjust in terms of the way they pursued him. I just never wanted to be on the other side of that and cause pain to the families I was doing that to, whether right or wrong. The moral weight of that was probably a bit more than I could carry."