Chris Christie: Nobody Better Than Trump On Opioids

Outgoing Gov. Chris Christie took aim at Donald Trump's critics on the president's approach toward the opioid epidemic, saying no chief executive has done a better job in dealing with the crisis.

"He’s done more in this 10 months than any president has before him, and he deserves great credit for that," he said during a speech this week on the crisis.

Christie also took several shots at former President Obama for his handling of the epidemic, saying that the opioid crisis "didn’t start on January 20th, 2017," when Trump was inaugurated.

"I want you to tell me one thing Barack Obama did to deal with this crisis. I want you to tell me whether he declared a public health emergency," Christie said. "I want you to tell me whether or not he appointed a commission with no strings attached to come forward with recommendations."

Christie noted that President Trump declared a public health emergency last month to deal with the opioid epidemic, freeing up resources for treatment. But he stopped short of calling it a national emergency or disaster that could have freed up even more money and resources.

Christie, however, noted that the declaration could allow Trump to instruct his administration to grant waivers and allow treatment to be more available. Obama, he said, did no such thing.

"If you don’t believe me, read the two GAO reports that evaluated the efforts of the Obama administration regarding the drug addiction crisis in this country," he said. "And I’ve read both of them, and they’re available online and you should read them, because what they’ll say is that their efforts were a complete failure."

Christie said he's "tired" of people being critical of Trump because he hasn’t fixed the opioid problem in 10 months.

"Am I saying he has defeated the problem? Absolutely not. In fact, the problem is going to get worse before it gets better," he said. "I believe that and you know who else believes it? The president, who, when he gave his speech declaring the public emergency, said so.

Christie said Trump has "elevated the issue of fentanyl and carfentanil to the presidential level in his conversations with the Chinese," saying President Xi Jinping has to take responsibility for the supply that’s flooding America.

"President Obama never elevated the issue of fentanyl of carfentanil to the presidential level in direct conversations with the Chinese president," Christie said. "So I think when people really examine the record that the president’s put forward already—he deserves great credit."

Here is the whole speech:

Chris Christie photo