Chris Christie, the former governor of New Jersey who pursued a taunting but futile effort to pry Republican voters free from Donald J. Trump’s grip, bowed on Wednesday to mounting pressure from within his party and suspended his presidential campaign.
“It’s clear to me tonight that there isn’t a path for me to win the nomination,” Mr. Christie said at an event in Windham, N.H., declaring: “I would rather lose by telling the truth than lie in order to win. And I feel no differently today because this is a fight for the soul of our party and the soul of our country.”
His departure effectively ends a phase of the Republican presidential contest, removing from the field its most aggressive Trump opponent and the only prominent contender who had argued that Mr. Trump was unfit for office — a contention that all but doomed his candidacy from the start.
“Imagine just for a moment if 9/11 had happened with Donald Trump behind the desk,” Mr. Christie said on Wednesday. “The first thing he would have done was run to the bunker to protect himself. He would have put himself first, before this country.”
Mr. Christie caused a stir before his remarks when he was caught on a hot microphone candidly discussing two rivals, Nikki Haley and Ron DeSantis, before making the announcement.
“She’s going to get smoked, and you and I both know it,” Mr. Christie could be heard saying of Ms. Haley. “She’s not up to this.” He added of Mr. DeSantis: “DeSantis called me, petrified.”
Mr. Trump immediately seized on the remarks, writing on Truth Social that Mr. Christie’s comments about Ms. Haley were a “very truthful statement.”
In his speech, Mr. Christie went on to criticize his rivals for their deference to Mr. Trump, acknowledging regret for doing the same thing after Mr. Trump defeated him in the 2016 primary race.
“For all the people who have been in this race, who have put their own personal ambition ahead of what’s right, they will ultimately have to answer the same questions that I had to answer after my decision in 2016,” Mr. Christie said. “Those questions don’t ever leave. In fact, they’re really stubborn. They stay.”
This is a developing story; check back for updates.
