New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie declined this weekend to comment on Donald Trump's comments about U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel, who Trump said was incapable of presiding over the fraud case against Trump University because of a conflict of interest caused by his "Mexican heritage."
BuzzFeed News sent several emails to Christie's personal email asking for comment on Trump's comments. A Christie spokesman, Brian Murray, then emailed BuzzFeed News asking BuzzFeed News to no longer to email the governor's address.
"If you need to contact Gov. Christie or obtain any type of response from him on any official matter, please contact me and my staff," said Murray. "Please discontinue directly emailing the governor's front office."
Asked for comment on the matter, Murray declined.
"If and when the governor comments on these matters, we can let you know. When he does avails, he tends to field questions like this. Right now, I have nothing for you."
Trump told the Wall Street Journal in an interview that Judge Curiel's "Mexican heritage" and membership in a Latino lawyers' association presented an "absolute conflict" in the case. "I'm building a wall. It's an inherent conflict of interest," Trump said to the Journal.
Christie famously defended Sohail Mohammed, a Muslim man he nominated for a seat on the New Jersey Superior Court of Passaic County in 2011 when fringe right-wing commenters accused the judge of being a terrorist sympathizer.
"They are criticizing him because he is a Muslim American," Christie said at the time. "Sharia law has nothing to do with this at all — it's crazy! It's crazy. The guy's an American citizen."