New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says he's "disturbed" by President Barack Obama's statements in a "60 Minutes" interview that the nation's intelligence services had
underestimated the threat of the Islamic State (ISIS), joining other Republicans in criticizing the president for not taking responsibility for the issue.
"It should be 'we,' Mr. President," Christie
told CNN Tuesday in an interview. "It's your administration and when you're the leader, you have to be held accountable for what they do. I was disturbed by that. I think that makes people a little less certain of his footing on those things."
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Christie, a potential 2016 presidential candidate, said that he hopes Obama "corrects what I hope was a misstatement."
Further, the New Jersey Republican complained that Obama does not have a "complete plan" to fight ISIS. The administration has put together a coalition of several countries, including several Arab states, but Christie said the president needs to "come up with a plan that helps bring the world together to fight this fight."
Christie said he does not hesitate to say Obama is doing something well when he is, "but I think the jury is still out on this because we shouldn't be in this position to begin with."
However, Christie refused to speculate about what he would do if he was the president when it comes to dealing with ISIS, as he's "not the commander in chief."
Further, he wouldn't answer questions about his presidential plans, saying that he might want to announce one day, "but that day is not today."
New York Republican Rep. Peter King also slammed Obama on
"America's Forum" on
Newsmax TV Tuesday for "100 percent" dropping the ball on ISIS by ignoring intelligence and warning signs it was growing in power.
"He didn't listen to the intelligence he had," King told host J.D. Hayworth. "Then, he talks about the
failure of the Iraqi army. When we pulled all of our troops out, we lost our contact with the Iraqi army and we couldn't provide security for our intelligence assets in Iraq. That's also the president's fault because by pulling all of our military out, we lost our leverage in Iraq. As far as ISIS, that is 100 percent the president dropped the ball on that."
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Sandy Fitzgerald ✉
Sandy Fitzgerald has more than three decades in journalism and serves as a general assignment writer for Newsmax covering news, media, and politics.
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