Chris Christie stood by his attack on first lady Jill Biden in the second Republican primary presidential debate, calling Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s criticism of his words the “highlight of my day.”
Christie attacked Joe Biden’s ties to unions, saying the president “slept with a union member” — a reference to Jill Biden and her membership in a teachers union.
When CNN’s Poppy Harlow asked if women were offended by his comment, Christie interrupted, saying, “That’s the truth, isn’t it?”
He called the first lady “a radical advocate for the worst in the teachers union.”
Chris Christie doubled down on his attacks on first lady Jill Biden
His original comments during the debate sparked outrage.
Democratic Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called Christie’s comments on social media “disgusting and misogynistic, and if Republicans want to irritate an entire nation of women, please be my guest.”
Asked about the New York congressman’s criticism, Christie replied: ‘I stand by the wording. Being called disgusting by a hypocrite like Ocasio-Cortez is the highlight of my day so far.”
The former New Jersey governor also pointed to a recent book about the Biden administration that details conversations the president reportedly had with Randi Weingarten, president of the American Federation of Teachers.
“It’s very, very specifically about how Joe Biden told Randi Weingarten, ‘I told you you’d have a lawyer for you right here in the White House, from day one, when they moved into the White House,’” Christie said . CNN. ‘That’s the history. Joe Biden has been a radical advocate for the worst in the teachers union.”
“And that’s why I brought it up, because no one else is willing to do it,” he added. “Nobody else wants to say it.”
Neither the Biden campaign nor the East Wing responded to DailyMail.com’s inquiry into Christie’s insult of the first lady.
Jill Biden has been an educator for more than thirty years, currently teaches at a community college in Northern Virginia and is a member of the National Education Association.
She began her career as an English teacher at a public high school and later returned to school herself to pursue a doctorate in education.
She taught for an English professor at Northern Virginia Community College when her husband was vice president and continued to do so when he became president. In doing so, she became the first first lady in modern history to take on a job outside her ceremonial duties.
She calls herself a “proud, card-carrying union member.”
Both she and President Biden have hosted events with Weingarten and members of the teachers union, in addition to events with other unions such as the unions.
President Joe Biden with first lady Jill Biden – she has called herself a union member with a card and he has talked about her union membership
Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez called Christ Christie’s comments about Jill Biden ‘disgusting and ‘misogynistic’
During the debate, Christie blasted President Biden for “sleeping with a member of the teachers union” — referring to the first lady — and said the teachers union “has an advocate in the White House every day for the worst of their teachers, not to ensure that their students can get the best out of themselves.’
Biden has called himself “the most union president in American history” — citing his long ties and support for all unions, not just his marriage to a union member.
But he noted that his wife is a member of the National Education Association.
“I sleep with an NEA member every night,” he said at the 2021 Labor Day event.
Later in the Republican debate, former Vice President Mike Pence brought the conversation back to the bedroom, noting that his wife Karen is a teacher.
“By way of full disclosure, Chris, you mentioned the president’s situation. My wife is not a member of the Teachers Union, but I have to admit that I have been sleeping with a teacher for 38 years. Full disclosure,” he said.
The comment was met with silence from the studio audience in Simi Valley.
Jill Biden has been a teacher for more than thirty years
Mike Pence noted that he also sleeps with a teacher: his wife Karen
Karen Pence taught school in Indiana for decades and earned a master’s degree in education and art therapy, according to her former government website.
As first lady of Indiana, she taught this at a Christian school does not admit homosexual students and that prohibited employees from engaging in “gay or lesbian sexual activities.”
Christie battled teachers unions as governor of New Jersey and railed against them during his failed 2016 presidential campaign, calling them “the most destructive force in public education in America.”