(JTA) — Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has accused Jared Kushner of carrying out a political “hit job” on him as revenge for prosecuting his father in 2005.
Christie makes the accusations in a memoir, “Let Me Finish,” that is set to be released at the end of the month.
In the book, Christie alleges that Kushner, President Donald Trump’s Jewish son-in-law and senior White House adviser, engineered his ouster from Trump’s transition team following the 2016 election.
Christie says that Steve Bannon, who then became the White House chief strategist, was given the job of informing Christie of his dismissal days after Trump defeated Hillary Clinton. Bannon “made clear to me that one person and one person only was responsible for the faceless execution that Steve was now attempting to carry out. Jared Kushner, still apparently seething over events that had occurred a decade ago,” Christie writes.
Christie prosecuted Kushner’s father, Charles, while serving as U.S. attorney for New Jersey in 2005. Charles Kushner pleaded guilty to illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion and witness tampering and served 14 months in federal prison.
Christie ran for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, endorsing Trump after withdrawing from the race. He says in the book that Kushner pleaded with Trump in Christie’s presence not to make him head of the transition team in April 2016.
“He implied I had acted unethically and inappropriately,” Christie writes, “but didn’t state one fact to back that up.”
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