New Jersey Governor Chris Christie denies that he personally donated to Planned Parenthood – even though an old quote exists on the record of him saying that he did.
“I support Planned Parenthood privately with my personal contribution and that should be the goal of any such agency, to find private donations,” Christie said in 1994, according to the Newark Star-Ledger.
So does Christie believe that the article is wrong or did he misspeak?
“Listen, this is a quote from 21 years ago. I’m convinced it was a misquote,” Christie told the Washington Post’s Jennifer Rubin in an interview.
The curious part of the story is that the author of the article–Brian Murray–now works as a spokesman for Christie – and has little to say about the accuracy of his old story.
Since there is no public record of a donation to Planned Parenthood, Christie chooses to focus on his current record as governor – vetoing Planned Parenthood funding for the last six years.
Christie says he changed from being pro-choice to being pro-life after hearing his own daughter’s heartbeat in the womb. “Twenty one years ago I was a convert to the cause,” he explained to Laura Ingraham in radio interview this week.
Sen. Marco Rubio has brought up Christie’s record on Planned Parenthood as the New Jersey governor grows increasingly more competitive in New Hampshire. He repeated the attack in last night’s debate.
“Chris Christie wrote a check to Planned Parenthood,” Rubio said.
Morning Joe’s Willie Geist this morning asked Christie if he had ever donated to Planned Parenthood, citing Rubio’s accusation.
“Has Governor Chris Christie or any form of Chris Christie ever written a check to Planned Parenthood?” asked Geist.
“No, not either me or any form of me,” Christie replied. “I don’t even know what that means Willie but I’ll deny it for the form of me too.”
“Well I said as Governor Chris Christie, and you previously were not the Governor,” Geist continued. “So you’ve never written a check to Planned Parenthood.”
“Yeah, no, no, no, not as a private citizen, Governor, or anything in between,” Christie replied.
Rubio’s campaign backs up their attack citing the old Newark Star-Ledger quote, but since Christie denies the accuracy of the quote, he will continue deny that a donation ever occurred. The governor is also betting that his record opposing the organization in New Jersey will trump any quotes he may or may not have said in the early ’90s.
In a statement to Breitbart News, Christie’s campaign called Rubio “disingenuous” for repeating the attacks on the debate stage.
“These are completely disingenuous attacks by Rubio,” Christie’s Communications Director Samantha Smith. “Governor Christie is the first pro-life candidate elected statewide in New Jersey since Roe v. Wade and has vetoed funding for Planned Parenthood every year in office. When the time came for Rubio to do the same, he didn’t even bother to show up to vote.”