--- title: Republican Debate: Rand Paul Hits Chris Christie on Bridgegate description: Rand Paul questioned Chris Christie's judgment during the GOP debate Tuesday night by invoking the George Washington Bridge closure scandal canonical: https://time.com/4150947/republican-debate-chris-christie-rand-paul-bridgegate/ author: Tessa Berenson article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-12-16T03:46:19.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:46:48.588Z article:section: Politics og:title: Rand Paul Hits Chris Christie on GW Bridge Closure Scandal og:description: Rand Paul questioned Chris Christie's judgment during the GOP debate Tuesday night by invoking the George Washington Bridge closure scandal og:url: https://time.com/4150947/republican-debate-chris-christie-rand-paul-bridgegate/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7c09d35ff405ab93/6988758c3c163983b045b355/republican-debate-gop-presidential-028.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4823 og:image:height: 2713 og:image:alt: Rand Paul, Chris Christie og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Rand Paul Hits Chris Christie on GW Bridge Closure Scandal twitter:description: Rand Paul questioned Chris Christie's judgment during the GOP debate Tuesday night by invoking the George Washington Bridge closure scandal twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7c09d35ff405ab93/6988758c3c163983b045b355/republican-debate-gop-presidential-028.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Rand Paul Hits Chris Christie on Bridgegate Scandal at Debate > Sponsored content. 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Brief is TIME's Washington newsletter, written by senior correspondent Philip Elliott. It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, three times a week. It reaches 85,000 subscribers with a 37.0% open rate as of August 2026. #### Where can I get analysis of Washington politics by email? D.C. Brief is TIME's free Washington politics newsletter, available at time.com/newsletters. It is written by a TIME senior correspondent who covers the capital full time. #### Who writes TIME's D.C. Brief? Philip Elliott, a senior correspondent at TIME, writes D.C. Brief. #### Is D.C. Brief free? Yes. D.C. Brief is free at time.com/newsletters.  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Dec 16, 2015 3:46 AM UTC  Rand Paul, right, speaks as Chris Christie watches during the Republican presidential debate at the Venetian Hotel & Casino on Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2015, in Las Vegas. Rand Paul, right, speaks as Chris Christie watches during the Republican presidential debate at the Venetian Hotel & Casino on Tuesday, Dec. 15, 2015, in Las Vegas.John Locher—AP  by [Tessa Berenson](https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/)  ## Tessa Berenson Dec 16, 2015 3:46 AM UTC Rand Paul questioned Chris Christie’s judgment during [the fifth Republican debate Tuesday night](http://time.com/4149585/republican-debate-donald-trump-ted-cruz-jeb-bush-cnn/) by invoking the George Washington Bridge closure scandal during a discussion of no-fly zones over Syria. Christie was asked about whether he would shoot down a Russian plane that flies through a no-fly zone in Syrian airspace. “I would do it,” he said, referring to President Obama as a “feckless weakling.” When asked to respond, Paul went on the attack. “I think if you’re in favor of World War III you have your candidate,” he said. “What we want in a leader is someone with judgment, not someone who is so reckless as to stand on the stage and say yes I’m jumping up and down I’m going to shoot down Russian planes. … I think when we think about the judgment of someone who might want World War III, we might think about someone who might shut down a bridge because they don’t like their friends” Christie did not take the bait. “I’ll tell you what reckless is,” he said. “The reckless people are the folks in the White House right now. Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton are the reckless people, and if you think a no-fly zone is a reckless policy, you’re welcome to your opinion, but how’s it working so far?” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4150947/republican-debate-chris-christie-rand-paul-bridgegate/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4150947/republican-debate-chris-christie-rand-paul-bridgegate/"},"headline":"Rand Paul Hits Chris Christie on Bridgegate Scandal at Debate","datePublished":"2015-12-16T03:46:19.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:46:48.588Z","description":"Rand Paul questioned Chris Christie's judgment during the GOP debate Tuesday night by invoking the George Washington Bridge closure scandal","url":"https://time.com/4150947/republican-debate-chris-christie-rand-paul-bridgegate/","keywords":["Debates","republicans","2016 Election","Chris Christie","Rand Paul","Republican debate"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7c09d35ff405ab93/6988758c3c163983b045b355/republican-debate-gop-presidential-028.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tessa Berenson","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tessa-berenson/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7c09d35ff405ab93/6988758c3c163983b045b355/republican-debate-gop-presidential-028.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Rand Paul, Chris Christie","caption":"Rand Paul, Chris Christie","creditText":"John Locher—AP","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/debates/","name":"Debates"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4150947/republican-debate-chris-christie-rand-paul-bridgegate/","name":"Rand Paul Hits Chris Christie on Bridgegate Scandal at Debate"}}]}] ```