Chris Christie took aim at Donald Trump’s latest wave of pardons on Sunday, accusing the former president of playing politics with justice. He singled out the case of Paul Walczak, noting that Walczak’s mother was a “million-dollar donor and fundraiser” for Trump and blasted the decision to pardon him.
“This guy stole $10 million in payroll taxes,” Christie said during an appearance on ABC. “That’s the money his employees gave him to pay the IRS. He pocketed it.”
Christie, who’s no stranger to criticizing Trump after competing against him in the 2016 and 2024 GOP primaries, pointed to his background as a federal prosecutor before becoming governor of New Jersey. During his time as U.S. Attorney, Christie notably prosecuted Charles Kushner the father of Jared Kushner, Trump’s son-in-law and now his ambassador to France.
While some of Trump’s recent pardons involved complex criminal justice reform arguments, Christie argued many are better described as politically motivated. Sitting alongside journalist Evan Osnos, author of The Haves and the Have-Yachts, Christie broke Trump’s clemency decisions into three buckets.
“There are categories,” Christie explained. “You’ve got the pay-to-play pardons. Then there are the reality TV stars turned supporters. And finally, the people Trump labels as victims of the so-called weaponized Justice Department.”
“But the common thread in all of them?” he added. “Loyalty to Trump. We’ve never had a president make public support for him the price of a pardon. It’s unprecedented.”
Christie’s criticism follows a flurry of high-profile clemency actions from Trump in recent weeks. That includes reality TV couple Todd and Julie Chrisley whose daughter spoke at the 2024 Republican National Convention and convicted fraudsters Jason Galanis and Devon Archer, who testified in GOP-led House investigations into Hunter Biden.
Other recipients include disgraced former Virginia sheriff Scott Jenkins, ex-Connecticut Governor John Rowland, and former New York congressman Michael Grimm. Trump also commuted the sentence of Larry Hoover, a former Chicago gang leader and co-founder of the Gangster Disciples.
Christie’s remarks add to growing scrutiny over whether Trump is rewarding donors, loyalists, and political allies with presidential pardons and whether personal allegiance is now the key to forgiveness from the Oval Office.