New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie didn’t get tapped for the dream jobs of vice president, attorney general or chief of staff, but he has at last joined the Trump administration to work on a nightmare issue close to his heart.
On Wednesday, Christie debuted as the new chairman of a commission to combat opioid abuse, sitting to the president’s right during a White House listening session with people whose lives have been touched by addiction and government officials charged with fighting the drug problem.
“This issue causes enormous pain and destruction to every day families in every state in this country,” Christie said, speaking of abuse of prescription painkillers and heroin. “Addiction is a disease, and it is a disease that can be treated,” he said. “Folks don’t talk about it. … People are afraid and ashamed to talk about drug addiction.”
The assignment is part time, and Christie reaffirmed his intent to serve out the remainder of his term in Trenton, which ends next January, as he made the rounds of network morning shows.
After dropping out of the Republican presidential primary last year, Christie endorsed Donald Trump, the first major party figure to do so. He became a high-profile surrogate for the New York developer, for the rest of the campaign, was a finalist for the vice presidential nomination, and reportedly was considered for the top jobs of attorney general and chief of staff. It didn’t happen, though Christie has said that he turned down lesser job offers from the White House because he did not want to move his family to Washington.
Trump praised a 2015 Christie speech on drug addiction, based on the overdose death of a college friend, as an emotional high point of the GOP campaign.
The governor said that he and Trump shared a commitment to fighting opioid abuse based in part on their anti-abortion beliefs. “We’re pro-life for the whole life,” Christie said. “Not just for the nine months in the womb, but for the whole life. Every life is an individual gift from God and is precious. … And no life is irredeemable.”
It is unclear how the opioid commission’s mission will mesh with the existing Office of National Drug Control Policy in the White House and Justice Department enforcement efforts. Attorney General Jeff Sessions, who was at the meeting Wednesday, has called for stepped up interdiction and prosecution of drug offenses.
Christie has said that prevention and law enforcement are important, but stresses treatment of addiction as the most pressing need.
Also among those in attendance were Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin, Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, and Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi. They were joined by White House aides Kellyanne Conway, Stephen Miller and Jared Kushner, the president’s son-in-law, as well as Omarosa Manigault, who was a contestant on Trump’s TV reality show “The Apprentice.”
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