. happening now. there s majora breaking news out there for the republican presidential nomination. a source now tells cnn that chris christie is dropping out of the race. we are standing by to hear directly from him live this hour in new hampshire. we will bring that to you as soon as it begins and all this comes as the final republican debate before the iowa caucuses are now just a few hours away right here on cnn. nikki haley and ron desantis preparing to face off tonight as both candidates make their closing pitch to try to naur row t narrow the gap with donald trump. welcome to our viewers in the united states and around the world. i m wolf blitzer. you re in the situation room. this is cnn breaking news. let s get straight to the breaking news and the race of the republican nomination. he s got details on the major developments that are unfolding. exactly, omar, what are we expected to hear directly from chris christie in the coming minutes? yeah, wol
some momentum. i think it is also a sign of chris sununu s influence and power. we heard yesterday christie kind of deny sununu and he had talked about him dropping you and the and sununu had been calling for christie to drop out for some time. he endorsed nikki haley some time ago, but i think he has become a very important voice in this gop primary, and i think that probably weighed into some of the decision making, as well. now, listen, chris christie probably was never going to win the nomination, but he was and can continue to be an important voice of opposition to go where some of the other candidates haven t been willing to go and whoever gets his endorsement will inherit that, as well. will inherit his bombast and his courage in going after trump where a lot of the other candidates have not.
breaking news and the race of the republican nomination. he s got details on the major developments that are unfolding. exactly, omar, what are we expected to hear directly from chris christie in the coming minutes? yeah, wolf. as we understand, according to a source familiar, we are expecting chris christie to suspend his campaign for president here at this event in windham, new hampshire. it s set to get going in just a few minutes here and it comes less than 24 hours after he called someone like governor sununu a liar suggesting that there were conversations of him getting out of the race and that was just last night and sources from his campaign pushed back on his assertion, less than 24 hours later here we are at this precipice where a source familiar is telling cnn that he does plan to suspend his campaign. he has put in resources here at new hampshire weekly since the
and we know from my reporting and the reporting of my colleagues that donald trump has increasingly growing concerned about haley s rise particularly in new hampshire. you re seeing them pour millions of dollars into attack ads against haley in new hampshire and he s been escalating his attacks on haley throughout the past several weeks now and so if they think that the voters who are backing christie now, if he drops out of the race and those people go to someone like haley, that could be problematic for him. good point. david, are you surprised by how quickly, quickly, chris christie s calculation on whether he was staying in the race or not has changed? wolf, i m not sure we know yet how quickly that calculation is. yes. i think every candidate is in the race until the end until the moment they decide they re not in the race anymore, and if you look at what the denial was about chris sununu, chris
this, as well. wolf, there is no question that this is a major milestone in this campaign, but first a bit of reporting. i am told by a republican source familiar with the governor s plans that he does intend to offer a rationale for what he believes the republican party should do going forward to win back the white house and restore the republican party. i am told he has no plans to immediately offer an endorsement. not a surprise at all, of course, but that is what i m told will be happening in new hampshire. wolf, when you take a step back, before a single vote has been cast in this 2024 presidential race the field has shifted and dr changed dramatically. now with chris christie bowing out and mike pence bowing out and those are two longstanding republicans in this party that are urging voters to turn away from donald trump and their candidacy did not take off. one thing that is dramatically different as we enter the voting five days away in iowa is that the republican field is dr