Megyn Kelly, a moderator at Wednesday’s GOP primary debate, explained on her SiriusXM show Thursday what former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said to her during a commercial break.
Videos of Christie approaching the moderator’s table had begun to circulate online during and after the debate, raising questions about the pair’s seemingly heated discussion
Christie was “mad that he wasn’t getting enough questions” during the debate, explained Kelly, who said that she told him in response: “We’re coming to you. You’re going to be happy in the second hour.”
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Kelly added that Christie was initially slated to be asked a question in the first few minutes but as the debate began to rage on, his time was reverted. “And the reason that happened is because we let them fight in the first 40 minutes of the debate, and therefore that comes at the expense of something,” she said. “The sort-of even distribution of questions got mucked up by all the arguing.”
At the same time, the former Fox News host noted that it was unrealistic for Christie to expect equal time.
“He’s polling at 2 percent! In no debate ever—and I’ve now done six of them—have we given as many questions to the guy who’s at 3 percent as to the person who’s in the lead, at least amongst the candidates on the stage,” Kelly said. “I’m sorry, Gov. Christie. That’s the way it is.”
By debate’s end, Christie had spoken only half a minute less than Nikki Haley, according to CNN’s figures. Christie’s time on the mic was about six minutes less than Vivek Ramaswamy’s 22, and four less than Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis.
“So I don’t want to hear it, frankly. We did right by him. He got a ton of airtime. That’s what he was mad about,” Kelly concluded.
In one notable moment, Christie got into an extended argument with Ramaswamy, calling him an “obnoxious blowhard.”
