--- title: Christie Says He 'Wasn't Held Hostage' at Trump Presser description: New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said he wasn't "held hostage" by Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump canonical: https://time.com/4246862/christie-hostage-trump/ author: Zeke Miller article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-03-03T19:11:06.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:41:25.265Z article:section: Politics og:title: Christie Says He 'Wasn't Held Hostage' at Trump Press Conference og:description: Arm-chair psychiatrists should "give it a break," he said og:url: https://time.com/4246862/christie-hostage-trump/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd76a32bf05ab349c/69888029196cf4c34303a9ce/donald-trump-chris-christie.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 4905 og:image:height: 2759 og:image:alt: donald-trump-chris-christie og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Christie Says He 'Wasn't Held Hostage' at Trump Press Conference twitter:description: Arm-chair psychiatrists should "give it a break," he said twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd76a32bf05ab349c/69888029196cf4c34303a9ce/donald-trump-chris-christie.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Christie Says He 'Wasn't Held Hostage' at Trump Press Conference > Sponsored content. 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It explains the politics, personalities and power dynamics behind the headlines, twice a week. #### 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. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3/newsletters?i=45b0f119-8308-4bd5-b5a6-b0adca9cc2b1&cr=time-nl-dcbrief-2026q3-v1) ## Video: Watch Chris Christie Introduce Trump on Super Tuesday [Watch (HLS stream): Watch Chris Christie Introduce Trump on Super Tuesday](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/0iMYvX9r.m3u8) (2:21)  _Published 2016-03-02. RAW-Super Tuesday-Christie-v1_ by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Mar 3, 2016 7:11 PM UTC  Chris Christie accompanies Donald Trump at a press conference on March 1, 2016 in Palm Beach, Fla. Chris Christie accompanies Donald Trump at a press conference on March 1, 2016 in Palm Beach, Fla. John Moore—Getty Images by [Zeke Miller](https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/) ## Zeke Miller Mar 3, 2016 7:11 PM UTC New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said he wasn’t “held hostage” by Republican presidential front-runner Donald Trump when they [appeared together at a press conference on Super Tuesday](http://time.com/4244162/chris-christie-twitter-trump-super-tuesday/). Christie, who has faced scorn and criticism from members of his own party for endorsing Trump, brushed off the Internet rumors and mocking analysis of his body-language in which he appeared dour on live television for more than 20 minutes. Arm-chair psychiatrists should “give it a break,” Christie said at a press conference Thursday. “No I wasn’t sitting there being held hostage, no I wasn’t sitting there wondering ‘Oh, what have I done…'” Christie made a surprise endorsement of Trump Friday in his highest-profile show of support, saying he believed Trump was best equipped of the remaining candidates to defeat likely Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. He said he does not agree with Trump on every issue. “If I disagree with him, I try to convince him otherwise,” Christie said. “That’s what a good friend & endorser does.” Christie said the endorsement of Trump wasn’t conditioned on a job guarantee.”Chris Christie is not interviewing or considering any other public job,” Christie said. Asked about Trump’s history of vulgar remarks, Christie told a reporter “Your question is ridiculous” before moving on. “I know Donald Trump and he’s not a bigot,” Christie added, when asked about Trump’s [slowness in repudiating the KKK and David Duke](http://time.com/4240268/donald-trump-kkk-david-duke/). ## Transcript Tonight Donald Trump is the clear winner on Super Tuesday. [ APPLAUSE ] But the win is important for our country, tonight Donald Trump has won Georgia and Massachusetts. Alabama And Virginia. [ APPLAUSE ] And he's also won the great state of Tennessee. Tonight, is the beginning of Donald Trump bringing the Republican party together, for a big victory this November. Tonight, Is the beginning of Donald Trump bringing the people of our nation together to help America win again, [ APPLAUSE ] And tonight, in all those states who supported Mr. Trump today, all the ones who voted across this country. Our message is to begin to get ready for the fight that is coming this fall. The fight this fall is to make sure that a united Republican Party and a united American people make sure that Hillary Rodham Clinton never gets back in the White House. [ SOUND ] Since June 16th when Mister Trump declare his candidacy. He shown himself to be tough and strong and bold. He shown himself to be a fighter. A leader who speaks plainly to the American people. He has listened to the American people The American people are listening to him. And he is bringing the country together. That ladies and gentlemen is not a campaign, it's a movement. Woo [ APPLAUSE ] [ APPLAUSE ] America wants to come together. America wants to be strong and successful again. But they know that to do that, they need to have a strong, bold, tough, decisive leader back in the Oval Office. And they have that man after tonight. Ladies and gentlemen, let me introduce to you the next president of the United States, Donald Trump. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4246862/christie-hostage-trump/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4246862/christie-hostage-trump/"},"headline":"Christie Says He 'Wasn't Held Hostage' at Trump Press Conference","datePublished":"2016-03-03T19:11:06.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:41:25.265Z","description":"Arm-chair psychiatrists should \"give it a break,\" he said","url":"https://time.com/4246862/christie-hostage-trump/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd76a32bf05ab349c/69888029196cf4c34303a9ce/donald-trump-chris-christie.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Zeke Miller","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/zeke-j-miller/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltd76a32bf05ab349c/69888029196cf4c34303a9ce/donald-trump-chris-christie.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"donald-trump-chris-christie","caption":"Chris Christie accompanies Donald Trump at a press conference on March 1, 2016 in Palm Beach, Fla.","creditText":"John Moore—Getty Images","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/2016-election/","name":"2016 Election"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4246862/christie-hostage-trump/","name":"Christie Says He 'Wasn't Held Hostage' at Trump Press Conference"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"Watch Chris Christie Introduce Trump on Super Tuesday","description":"RAW-Super Tuesday-Christie-v1","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/0iMYvX9r/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2016-03-02T03:51:20.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/0iMYvX9r.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/4246862/christie-hostage-trump/","duration":"PT2M21S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/4246862/christie-hostage-trump/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```