North Korea's claims of testing a nuclear weapon are just another example of the "weak leadership" displayed by President Barack Obama and his one-time Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, GOP presidential candidate Chris Christie declared Wednesday.
"You know, three out of the four nuclear detonations that the North Koreans have done happened [on] Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton's watch," the New Jersey governor said on
Fox News' "Fox & Friends" program.
"They have just not acted strongly at all around the world."
The activity in North Korea, he continued, "is just another example piling on top of Iran, on top of Syria, on top of Crimea and Ukraine. This is what weak American leadership gets you. And Americans should be very, very concerned about this, because we have a president right now who has no idea how to lead our country and lead the world. "
Christie said a coalition of countries, lead by the United States, should be formed to tell North Korea "that this kind of conduct is just unacceptable, and we have to be able to back it up."
The problem is, Christie said, that "while the president's been playing footsie with the Iranians, we've allowed the North Koreans to get further and further down the nuclear road. We have to do more than just walk. You need to walk and chew gum at the same time. This president and Hillary Clinton have not been able to do either."
Christie also took on Obama's executive actions tightening federal gun control laws, including his tearful comments during the presentation.
"I wish the president would channel some of that emotion and effort into fighting crime on the streets," said Christie. "He put a throwaway line there in the end that this happens on the streets of Chicago every day. The first time I heard him mention that. What he mentions all the time are the headline grabbing things.
"The murder rate in Chicago is up 18 percent. The murder rate in New York is up 11 percent. This is because this president and his attorney general do not support law enforcement."
He continued that FBI Director James Comey has said there is a "chill wind blowing through law enforcement," and Obama is "contributing to that."
He also spoke out about the news that 17 more prisoners are being released from the Guantanamo Bay prison, and said he does not believe it is the time to do that.
"If I'm the president in January 2017, Guantanamo will stay open and prisoners will not be released," said Christie. "We won't be trading prisoners for people who go awol. We won't be allowing them to go back out into the fight."
Christie, also appearing on
MSNBC's "Morning Joe" program, commented on how he's standing up to GOP front-runner Donald Trump's popularity, saying he can't explain it, "other than the fact that we have never had a candidate for president before who had a top 10 rated television show for eight years or so before he ran for president . . . I think he is seeing a lot of the residual effects of that."
But still, he insisted that as voters learn more about him "in a very personal way" in New Hampshire, "we have turned this thing around."