WASHINGTON – Sorry my campaign team put all your dirty laundry on the Internet!
Mitt Romney phoned Gov. Chris Christie to apologize after a file full of embarrassing revelations about the New Jersey Republican made their way into a campaign tell-all book.
“Mitt called me right away, and I could tell he was really embarrassed and outraged about it,” Christie told CNN, calling the leak a “complete violation of trust of me and the spirit within which I entered that process.”
The book “Double Down” by Mark Halperin and John Heilemann reveals how 2012 GOP presidential nominee Romney’s campaign team assembled reams of material on Christie, code-named “Pufferfish,” as part of a secret and intense vice presidential vetting process. The leak itself is an extraordinary breach of protocol.
Christie’s refusal to answer several questions about his health and finances helped keep him off the ticket after making Romney’s short list. The material assembled by the campaign contains a series of potential red flags involving Christie’s household help, a securities investigation of Christie’s brother, a past defamation lawsuit against him, his past lobbying clients, and continuing struggles with his weight.
“Christie has been asked to provide a copy of all medical records from his most recent physical examination,” reads just one small part of the leaked oppo file. “If Christie’s possible selection is to move forward, this item should be obtained.”
The book also lays out a series of tensions between the Christie and Romney camps, including sore feelings over Christie showing up late to Romney campaign events, Christie’s GOP Convention speech — which was almost entirely about Christie’s own record, and the Romney team’s fury at Christie’s embrace of President Obama after Hurricane Sandy struck the Jersey shore.