--- 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: 2026-08-04T08:06:15.156Z 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=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 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=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Christie Says He 'Wasn't Held Hostage' at Trump Press Conference ## 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/). ```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":"2026-08-04T08:06:15.156Z","description":"Arm-chair psychiatrists should \"give it a break,\" he said","url":"https://time.com/4246862/christie-hostage-trump/","keywords":["2016 Election","2016 Election topic"],"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"}}] ```