Christie says DeSantis has only himself to blame for Florida education controversy

Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie slammed his GOP presidential primary opponent Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Sunday over his response to the new history standards the Florida Board of Education adopted last week.

The new standards in Florida have been blasted by critics — including Vice President Kamala Harris — for rewriting and omitting key facts about slavery. Particularly at issue is one new policy that calls for instruction on “how slaves developed skills which, in some instances, could be applied for their personal benefit.”

“Governor DeSantis started this fire with the bill that he signed and now he doesn't want to take responsibility for whatever is done in the aftermath of it, and from listening and watching his comments he's obviously uncomfortable,” Christie said Sunday on CBS’ “Face the Nation.”

DeSantis, who advocated the 2022 "Stop Woke Act" and other policies that led to curriculum changes in the state's schools, addressed the backlash in response to a question from CNN last week, saying: “I didn’t do it. I wasn’t involved in it. … I think that they’re probably going to show some of the folks that eventually parlayed, you know, being a blacksmith into, into doing things later in life.”

“‘I didn't do it’ and ‘I'm not involved in it’ are not the words of leadership,” Christie told CBS’ Margaret Brennan on Sunday.

Christie also criticized his party for focusing on “smaller issues” like “micromanaging curriculum in schools,” instead of concentrating attention on issues like inflation and falling test scores in schools.

“If this was such a big issue for Governor DeSantis, he had four years to do this. He only started to focus on this when he decided he wanted to run for president and try to get to the right of Donald Trump,” Christie said. “I think people see this as politically manipulative.”

The former New Jersey governor has been running a campaign centered on taking former President Donald Trump out of the race. But he has still made room for jabs against DeSantis, calling out comments the Florida governor made about the FBI and Department of Justice during an interview on CNN last week.