http://thehill.com/blogs/ballot-box/presidential-races/273592-christie-trump-didnt-mean-literal-riotsChristie: Trump didn't mean 'literal riots'By Mark Hensch
March 18, 2016
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) on Friday said Donald Trump was speaking figuratively when he predicted “riots” if the GOP blocks him from winning the presidential nomination.
“I don’t think he meant literal riots,” Christie said during a press conference in New Jersey, according to The Wall Street Journal. "I think he meant political riots."
Still, Christie, who has endorsed Trump and appeared with him at campaign rallies, predicted that a contested convention selecting the Republican nominee would generate outrage.
“If someone goes in with the most delegates, the most votes, and then they are denied the nomination by what they consider to be political insiders, I think there would be real upset at that convention,” he said. The Republican National Convention will be held in Cleveland in July.
“The party is the people who belong to the party and vote in the party,” Christie continued. "It’s not the people in Washington, D.C., or on K Street.
“[If] we are going to start having do-overs here, I’ll take one,” quipped the governor, who suspended his own GOP White House run last month. "I don’t think that’s the way the system works.”
Trump on Wednesday forecast “riots” if he does not secure the GOP mantle despite his lead in both delegates and voter support.
“I think you’d have riots,” he said. "I wouldn’t lead it, but I think bad things would happen. I’m representing ... many, many millions of people, in many cases first-time voters. After we win, I think a lot of feelings will be soothed.”
Trump has acquired 678 delegates out of the 1,237 necessary for the Republican presidential nomination thus far, according to the latest RealClearPolitics delegate count.
Christie endorsed Trump in late February, a stunning move given the pair’s bruising clashes in the primary race. The governor suspended his own Oval Office bid earlier the same month after a poor showing in New Hampshire’s early voting contest.
