Jersey shore. Gov. Christie thank you. You are one of the few people that the president listened to on the outside on political matters and i love this article and you had a come to come to jesus meeting with President Trump. How did that go and did the president decide to make any changes with his campaign . Gov. Christie i discussed things from where i sit and continue do try to help him articulate the issues that he wants to articulate over the course of the rest of his campaign. And thats what i was attempting to do when we met last week. Whats he doing right, whats he doing wrong . Gov. Christie in the last week or two, i think his focus on the coronavirus has been good. I think his focus on encouraging the American People to wear masks and letting them know we are in this for a while and we have to remain strong and resolute. Those are things that are very, very important. Listen, i think the biggest thing he has to do that he hasnt been doing is articulate a vision for the next four years to contrast with the Biden Campaign. For those of us on the east coast, it is a seinfeld campaign, a campaign about nothing. Its a campaign about dont reelect donald trump but dont hear a thing that joe biden wants to do with the country in ny great detail except his 110paged manifest to with bernie sanders. I listened the way the Biden Campaign is being received by the progressives by one of my partner and doesnt seem happy or trusting about the Biden Campaign. And i think those are things that the president has to make sure he contrasts by being very bold and vessel direct about what mr. Ellison s do for the next four years. I was with the president in texas this week. He is not talking about Vice President biden on the stump for the most part. He is talking about the Racial Injustice protests and talking about cities like portland and representative owe cast yeoh cortez, why is he he resisting that spotlight on biden . Gov. Christie what im saying to talk about what you are going to do the next four years that biden isnt talking about it at all. Joe biden presidency will be like, i dont know if he is going to move to the white house out of the basement in wilmington or going to stay in the basement in wilmington. Is he going to move or too afraid to move. This is a campaign that the president has to lay out his vision and when he does that that will force Vice President biden to lay out his. Then you have a choice. And when you have a choice in this election, thats the election. He cannot win a referendum election but a bine area choice. Why cant he win a referendum election . Gov. Christie it is hard for any candidate incumbent especially when you are going through a reelection. I think they will brac off from that. And economic crisis that has occurred as a result of the coronavirus, not his creation. But when you have those kind of twin crises and add onto it the racial unrest which has been caused by two factors, the rder of george floyd and Police Misconduct in the country and two, the coronavirus lockdown. And i think all of the tension and stress and depression that that caused in the country, i mean mental depression, those two things causing a third crisis, it is hard for a an incumbent to win a referendum race. You need a situation like Ronald Reagan had in 1984 where the country, everything was going wonderfully, the country was at peace, prosperity was at unprecedented levels and referendum race. And they so loved the current president. When there are crises going to, thats not going to happen. I dont know you dont want to talk about the meeting, that scene of you and Jared Kushner sitting across from President Trump having a conversation, you have to wonder as a reporter here, is the candidate on the same page as his own campaign when it comes to things talking about, messaging and strategy . Im not going to get into the specifics. Gov. Christie i know as a reporter you are curious. The answer is yes, he is on the same page as the people advising him and you will see that happen over the course of the next five days. Most americans dont know ill. Gov. Christie the biggest asset is his work ethic. I never saw anybody who has worked so hard. One of the things i have said in the aftermath of his appointment, there will not be a detail that will fall through the cracks with bill in charge. He will work 18 hours a day. He will inspire the people around him to work almost as hard. And he will make sure that every detail is attended to. And one of his big strengths is voter identification and voter turn yost. He was a field director for the Trump Campaign and you saw that in some of the key swing states where the turnout for donald trump was much higher than anticipated. And i believe its because in large measure because of the work of bill. What the president has done is got himself a point and a half or two by having a real pro in charge of the campaign and i think the rest of itself is up o the candidate. Bill will give him a much better chance to win because of his hard work and attention to detail and the experience he has had in managing republican races in a blue state like new jersey. He is going to go in the swing states and identify the voter and expose them to what the president s plans are in the next four years. A man now running the campaign and jared is there and you are there. Any chance the president brings back steve bannon . Gov. Christie i hope not. I dont think he will be productive. The role he played in 2015 was overplayed and overblown. The people who deserve real credit for 2016 includes folks like Kellyanne Conway and Reince Priebus, stephen miller. Those are the people along with Jared Kushner ran that campaign and has taken more credit than he deserves. And i think that would be a very, very bad day for the Trump Campaign to have steve bannon in any official or unofficial way. When thencandidate trump was on the road in summer 2016 and turned from bannon to conway and he is on the road now to almost every poll. Is he bringing someone like bannon if not bannon . He did take the dramatic. First Campaign Manager to bill. 120 days out. Nd secondly [indiscernible] gov. Christie i believe he is doing digital work on the campaign. He was originally doing digital work and advertising. His background and experience and quite good at it. Gov. Christie placing the Vice President ial candidate with the brokered convention. We talk about it and the media talked about it with baited breath and hasnt happened since 1960. And its not happening now. And in search of a brokered convention. Replaces the Vice President ial candidate isnt going to happen. And by the way, no one votes for number two on the ticket, bob. Alpha trump, the ultimate and said it changed from mike pence to another one and have enormous influence. Donald trump in charge and thats why the Vice President ial candidate is not where you want to change it for political reasons and the Vice President has done a very good job and what the president tells me [indiscernible] no discussion among kushner about the idea . Gov. Christie i have pe spoken to the president as late as last weekend and he has Great Respect for the Vice President. So thats moving forward. Has debate prep started . Gov. Christie not formally, it has not. I have had conversations with the president about it, but its too early. Of u didnt play the role the antagonist of the debate prep but played a counter during those informal sessions at bed minister, do you expect to have a similar role . Gov. Christie if the president asks me to do it, i will be happy to help him to get ready. That is up to the president. But as i said before, i continue i will offer ho my counsel for the president and i will there in whatever role. You talk about the most effective prep sessions in 2016 is when you and Reince Priebus were the only one talking in the room rather than a whole room of advisers. Is that your advice to him this time . Gov. Christie absolutely. It is tough enough for a candidate to get ready for a president ial debate but harder for a president to get ready because he is running the federal government. Nd you look look back to jerry ford, from 1976 to 2020, whenever an incumbent president has been involved, he has never won the first debate. And part of that is because how difficult it is to prep a president for a debate and take his mind off the governing and the politics and get involved that isnt president. So those are challenges that donald trump will face because barack obama faced it and lost it to mitt romney and bill clinton faced it and lost to bob dole. You go back to jimmy carter with Ronald Reagan and gerald forward with jimmy carter. He hopes he will break on september 29. How are the negotiations with the commission on president ial debates . Is the president committed to show up to all three debates . Gov. Christie the president would like more debates. Remember something, a lot of people are going to start voting before september 29. And there will not be one president ial debate before then to me seems ridiculous. We need to move them up or add additional debates between the president and Vice President giving the phenomenon of early voting that occurs in many states. You will see the president and im sure he would love to have more of them. Is that in discussion right now . Is there a chance of that happening . E c. P. D. Is pretty firm with its plan with three president ial and one Vice President ial. That is up to the folks to do that. Im a bystander. Those are my views of what i know about the president and i think the president would want sooner more debates more than later. No shun one should cast a vote before hearing a president ial debate. The pandemic hovers over the campaign. Would you advise the president to do more especially with the president ial production defense production act . Gov. Christie i did that. I dont know whether we need it right now. The only area i think we need it is reagents for testing and whether or not there is enough time to invoke that and make it meaningful. Ill leave it up to the president. He has been aggressive and i advised the president of that at the time and one of the things that displeased the public about the handling of the pandemic. He was very aggressive in terms of banning travel from china and europe. He was very, very aggressive. And i wish he was more aggressive. But we have to continue now, people need to understand the risks that are involved and make sure they are being smart. We dont need to close the whole country down again. [indiscernible] we need to reopen the country and get people back to work. You saw in new jersey in the last two months opioids death have gone up 20 . And Domestic Violence has gone up and suicides have gone up. Those are all connected to this shutdown and the shutdown being so complete that it is ruining peoples lives and ability to pay bills. I dont think we need to go back. We need to reopen and people need to wear a masks and washing their hands and proper precautions and most importantly, we need to shelter vulnerable populations. If you are elderly, you have to be much more careful than someone in their mid20s. Should the president be wearing a Face Covering and should he mandate Face Coverings . Gov. Christie he decided not to do a National Mandate and let the governors make choices. You are hearing people saying everyone should be wearing a mask. When he is exposed to people, you will see the president wearing a mask much more frequently. I dont think he needs to wear it in the past. We didnt see it in texas. Gov. Christie in the end, setting an example by wearing a mask would be the right thing to do. [indiscernible] gov. Christie the mask is not the type of mask that will bar anything coming in. If the president is being tested frequently, numerous times [indiscernible] whats your assessment of his handling of the administrations testing strategy . Gov. Christie is it that jared is the person in charge of that, i dont know. Im not there every day. I can tell you that jared works really hard and all the things he is doing for the president every day. In terms of judging that stuff, im not in there and im in a position to judge. You said the president isnt being helped by his staff. What is your assessment of mark meadows . Gov. Christie he has been there for a couple of months now. And he is still getting the ropes, getting used to everything and working with this president. Im sure they are learning that now and how is he going to advise the president on those. I dont think we will be having a complete grade on chief of staff meadows until after the election is over. He has been there earlier in the year. Gov. Christie he didnt resign from congress until it was april or may. This has only been a few months. Lets give him time to get working. I have had great interaction with him. He is a bright guy. But i dont think he is fair to judge someone on the job they are doing by minute by minute report card and i understand the media is doing it. You are the one who has issued grades not necessarily explicit grade but you have put your opinions on chiefs of staff. Gov. Christie once i come to a conclusion how they did, sure, i having conclusions but been a governor for eight years, you never know how quite good a staffer is after a few months. Its over a length of time that they serve you that you get a much better idea. Im not dodging this, bob. If i had a solid opinion based on fact, i would give it to you. But im not going to shoot off a grade just for the sake of shooting it off. Once i have an opinion on mark meadows, check in. But right now, i think its too soon to give him a grade. You are a registered lobbyist. Are you personally lobbying the president on any pandemic issue . Gov. Christie never did that with the president on any issue. How is your lobbying work. You are an outside adviser and how does that work when you are working as a private practice and outside political adviser . Gov. Christie i have advocated or three new jersey hospitals. I have advocated for two causes that i care deeply. First is three Major Hospital systems in new jersey who are under enormous stress with new jersey being one of the worst states in the country to make sure they got the pandemic relief they deserve. And secondly, for a group of Drug Abuse Treatment Centers called clean slate that i have gotten to know through Patrick Kennedy and keep our eye on the ball on the opioid problem in this country. Ongoing Substance AbuseDisorder Treatment and make sure they get treatment. Those are my only clients where im talking about anything on the pandemic or official obbying. You are a former u. S. Attorney and friends with chris wray and you pushed him to be in the administration. As a former Law Enforcement official, do you have any alarm, or any pause to see federal agents in u. S. Cities and the way the Trump Administration is handling it . Gov. Christie mayors and governors have abdicating their responsibility to restore order in the streets. We need peaceful protesting but we are not seeing it in portland and other places where people are destroying private property and destroying public property and we have to restore order. And when the mayors and the governors abdicate their responsibility as they have done in oregon and washington, the federal government has the obligation to do that. I have no quams about that at all. The mayors and governors have put politics ahead of Law Enforcement. That should never happen. Lets go to one of our audience questions. This is from virginia. He rights in, Tucker Carlson or larry hogan, what is the future of the Republican Party, or does it have one . Gov. Christie tucker is making too much money to go to politics. I doubt we are going to see him. Larry hogan is a great governor and done an amazing job under difficult circumstances first with the riots and now with the pandemic not to mention his own struggle with cancer, which he survived. And so larry hogan is a great leader of our party. The Republican Party has a great future no matter what happens. There are a lot of great people involved in the party and if the president is reelected, which i hope he is and have his leadership. But it wont be a vacuum in the party. T happens when every incumbent any thoughts for running for senate for new jersey . Gov. Christie no. No. I have absolutely no interest in being in an legislative body. Not my personality. Im an executive branch guy. The legislative branch can have it. Its fine. But its not for me. Throughout your book you have a running joke that you dont want to be secretary of labor for President Trump. If President Trump wins ag second term, have you had discussions with him with joining the cabinet . Gov. Christie absolutely no discussions about any jobs. The president is saying that karma. E bad carm he isnt going to be talking about. I have been offered seven different jobs and turned them all down. If there is a second term, if the president calls on me or asks me to do something, i will always listen and something that i feel drawn to and have a talent to help the country, ill do it. But if i do it, im not looking or a title, father, u. S. Attorney. I have plenty of titles. You had warm words for your friend larry ho