Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said President Donald Trump completely bungled the government shutdown that ended last week after 35 days.
"The president blew it … when he shut the government down with no plan how to reopen it," Christie said on "The Late Show" Tuesday night.
Christie noted that he was in the White House residence talking with Trump at some point before the shutdown when the president asked him for advice about a possible shutdown.
"I said this to him: 'If you're gonna do this, you better have an exit plan because sometimes in politics, things don't go the way you expect. And so if it doesn't go well in the first couple of days, you gotta have a way to get it back open,'" Christie said.
"I don't think, given that it went 35 days, we had a plan."
The shutdown began Dec. 22 after lawmakers could not agree on funding Trump's border fence between the United States and Mexico. Without a spending deal for the Department of Homeland Security, the partial shutdown occurred.
Trump agreed to temporarily reopen the government in exchange for lawmakers coming to an agreement on funding DHS — which would include border security measures.
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