Chris Christie vowed ‘to get into the ring’ in ‘secret’ meeting with New Hampshire GOP bigwigs

Ex-New Jersey Governor Chris Christie vowed to “get in the ring” with Donald Trump in 2024 at a private meeting of Republican kingmakers, sources have told DailyMail.com.

The larger-than-life legislator promised to include the ex-commander-in-chief at the secret meeting of GOP bigwigs in the key state of New Hampshire six weeks ago.

Christie, who has been teasing a 2024 White House run for months, was in Granite State ahead of the party’s primary next year.

Trump dismissed the prospect of a Chris Christie challenge, labeling it a waste of time and money on his Truth Social platform on Friday.

The 60-year-old former Trump whisperer advocated a presidential run in a fiery 45-minute diatribe that focused entirely on the man he later supported in the 2016 election.

“It was all about Trump. He just wanted to get in the ring with him and beat him up. He doesn’t care about winning it,” said a source who was present at the previously unreported closed-door event.

Another source said: “Christie seemed very angry. He said I’m the guy who can take on Trump, but I wondered if he had any other policies.”

He will announce his candidacy for the GOP presidential nomination in New Hampshire on Tuesday, sources close to the former governor said.

The former president took to Truth Social on Friday to tell Christie’s backers that they are “wasting their time and money.”

But only 1 percent of Republicans see the Trump-bashing Republican as their favorite candidate for 2024, according to a Reuters/Ipsos poll published last month.

He spectacularly fell out with the former president in 2020 refusing to support his completely baseless claims that Joe Biden’s 2020 victory was rigged.

Former New Jersey federal prosecutor Charles Kushner, the real estate mogul father of Trump’s son-in-law Jared, also famously jailed Charles Kushner in 2004 for tax evasion.

Christie was fired from Trump’s transition team shortly after his presidential election victory just over six years ago.

He himself had made a failed bid for America’s top job in 2015, only to suspend his campaign in February of the following year after a humiliating sixth-place finish in New Hampshire.

The former attorney has launched a series of astonishing attacks on Trump since he left the White House, labeling him a “coward” and a “puppet of Putin.”

He has also attacked Ron DeSantis, the recently declared Republican nominee, for his “war on wake” battle with Disney.

Christie has attacked Florida Governor Ron DeSantis over his state-issued dictations to Disney, made under the auspices of his so-called “war on wake.”

“Where do we go now, if you disagree in this country, the government may punish you?” said the former governor of New Jersey in April.

In a thinly veiled swipe at the Sunshine State leader, he added, “For me, that’s what I always thought liberals did. And now all of a sudden we’re in this with a Republican.’

Christie hinted earlier in May at the likelihood of a 2024 run, saying he was “deeply concerned” about a possible rematch between Trump and President Biden because it would be “bad for the Republican Party.”

He will join a crowded Republican field that already includes South Carolina Senator Tim Scott, ex-South Carolina Governor Nikki Haley, and former Arkansas Governor Asa Hutchinson.

Entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy and talk radio host Larry Elder are also in the running for the GOP nomination.

Mike Pence, who was vice president in the previous administration, will announce his plans to run for the White House next week.

But Donald Trump remains the runaway favorite in polls nationwide, as well as voter polls in key battlefield states like Iowa and New Hampshire.