Shortly after endorsing Donald Trump, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie on Friday told some of his top fundraisers that the billionaire businessman might shift from his decision to self-fund his campaign and instead raise money in a general election.
Ray Washburne, who was Christie’s national finance chairman for his presidential campaign and is now unaligned, led the call. However, he described Christie’s comment as an offhand remark in response to one of his supporters’ questions on the call.
About 100 of the New Jersey governor’s most loyal supporters, including his campaign fundraisers, were on the call. But it was not arranged as a finance call, Washburne said.
“He just explained why he chose to back Donald Trump over the other people and why he did it now,” said Washburne, who described it as a brief call. “There was no ask for raising money for Trump.”
The call was first reported by The New York Times.
Trump regularly tells voters he’s self-funding his campaign, a claim he reiterated Friday night at a campaign rally in Oklahoma City, touting the unorthodox move as a sign that he won’t be beholden to big donors and special interests.
The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment about whether Trump might change tactics and begin actively raising money for a general election if he is the GOP nominee.