Republican presidential candidate and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said on Friday that the shooting in Tennessee that left four Marines dead shows why his opponent Rand Paul's position on the scope of the government's intelligence gathering makes "our country weaker and more vulnerable."
Christie was asked to comment on the shooting, which took place at a military site in Chattanooga, on a New Hampshire radio station, when he turned to the Kentucky Senator's position on anti-terrorism and privacy issues.
"Of course, we have to do more to protect them. This is a dangerous world," Christie said. "This is why I've been arguing against the rollbacks in our intelligence capability that Senator Paul has advocated for. This is not the right way to go in our country. It's making our country weaker and more vulnerable than we were."
"I'm the only person in this race that has actually prosecuted terrorism cases, who has done applications under the Patriot Act, who has gone to foreign intelligence courts to get the type of monitoring that we need."
Christie has previously attacked Paul on this subject.
Asked for comment, Doug Stafford of Paul’s campaign said it was “disgusting” for Christie “to seek to use a tragedy like this.”
“From transportation to national security, Gov. Christie has a long record of political stunts and cheap shots,” Stafford wrote in an e-mail. “It is disgusting for him to seek to use a tragedy like this to launch a shameful and patently false attack.”
Here are Christie's full comments:
And so, first off, it's an awful tragedy for the families. Secondly, we have to do more. Of course, we have to do more to protect them. This is a dangerous world. This is why I've been arguing against the rollbacks in our intelligence capability that Senator Paul has advocated for. This is not the right way to go in our country. It's making our country weaker and more vulnerable than we were. I'm the only person in this race that has actually prosecuted terrorism cases, who has done applications under the Patriot Act, who has gone to foreign intelligence courts to get the type of monitoring that we need."
