New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie has poured cold water on speculation he'll quit the Garden State before his term ends in January 2018 to serve in the Donald Trump administration.
"I've been consistently saying throughout I'm going to serve the rest of my term and I'm serving the rest of my term," Christie said on the show "Ask the Governor" on Trenton radio station WKNW-FM.
"I have said to the president-elect, reminded him, that I have 14 months left in my term and it's my desire to finish my term. I think the president-elect understands that I have an obligation."
Christie ended his bid for the Republican presidential nomination earlier this year, became Trump's close advisor and was later on a short list of names to be Trump's vice-presidential running mate.
Earlier this month, Christie was dumped as chairman of Trump's transition team, but he denied there is any friction between himself and the billionaire real-estate tycoon, saying their relationship is "great."
"There has never been a cross word between us in terms of our feelings toward each other," Christie said. "We've been friends for 14 years. We speak on a regular basis."
Last week, Sam Nunberg, a former Trump "campaign adviser," told Newsmax TV that Christie was booted as transition chair because the New Jersey leader had lost faith in Trump's ability to win the election.
"Chris Christie was running [the original transition team], and he didn't do anything those last five weeks," Nunberg told host Steve Malzberg on "America Talks Live."
"It's one of the reasons why he was fired, because he thought that President-elect Trump was going to lose."
In addition there were reports Trump was concerned about the ongoing Bridge-gate scandal over which two of the governor's top operatives were recently convicted.
The transition team is now headed by Vice President-elect Mike Pence.
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