Chris Christie ends U.S. presidential bid, says stopping Trump more important

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said Wednesday that he’s ending his Republican presidential bid just days before Iowa’s leadoff caucuses in a last-ditch effort to deny Donald Trump a glidepath to the nomination.

“My goal has never been to be just a voice against the hate and division and the selfishness of what our party has become under Donald Trump,” Christie said at a town hall in New Hampshire.

“I’ve always said that if there came a point in time in this race where I couldn’t see a path to accomplishing that goal, that I would get out,” he said. “And it’s clear to me tonight that there isn’t a path for me to win the nomination, which is why I’m suspending my campaign tonight for president of the United States.”

It wasn’t clear whether Christie would be immediately endorsing one of his rivals, but he was overheard criticizing former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley on a livestream set up by his campaign ahead of the event. “She’s going to get smoked,” he said. “She’s not up to this.” He said Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis called him, petrified he would endorse Haley, but the hot mic was cut before Christie finished speaking.

The dropout comes as a surprise, given that Christie had staked the success of his campaign on New Hampshire’s first-in-the-nation primary, which is less than two weeks away. He had insisted as recently as Tuesday night that he had no plans to leave the race, continuing to cast himself as the only candidate willing to directly take on the former president.

“I would be happy to get out of the way for someone who is actually running against Donald Trump,” he said at a town hall in Rochester, New Hampshire, while arguing that none of his rivals had stepped up to the plate.

“I’m famous enough. … I’ve got plenty