Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie slammed US mainstream media Sunday for focusing too much on McCain's apparent rebuke of Trump at the funeral, instead of commemorating the late Senator's life.
"This is part of the problem with Washington, DC. It's the commentary that we've been hearing for the last 24 hours or so, since then, is all about the rebuke, supposedly of President Trump, rather than the life of John McCain," the scandal-plagued Republican politician told ABC.
He scolded the media for not spotlighting other attributes, focusing instead on a speech given by McCain's daughter, Meghan, in which she criticized the acting president, but never referred to him by name.
Christie pointed out that other speakers eulogies got little, if any, coverage.
"Extraordinary things that were said, by President Bush […] by President Obama, by Joe Lieberman who didn't rebuke President Trump at all yesterday in his remarks and focused on his friend John McCain and the extraordinary man that he was, the extraordinary sense of humor he had, and his toughness and his temper," Christie remarked.
Last week, Christie — who was in the final round of choices to be Trump's running mate in the 2016 US presidential elections — praised Senator McCain for his friendship and how McCain supported and defended the former governor during the latter's wide-ranging Bridgegate scandal.
"For weeks […], he was one of the only voices on television saying 'I know Chris Christie, I know his character, I know he didn't have anything to do with this.' And I didn't call him, he called me," Christie claimed in an interview with ABC at the time.
McCain's funeral took place Saturday, with a number of prominent US dignitaries attending, including former presidents Bush and Obama.
The current US president, Donald Trump — as vocal an opponent of McCain as McCain was of him — was not present at the ceremony after the Senator expressed a desire for Trump to stay away.