Christie tells National Guard head: You have to lose weight immediately

That tidbit comes from a Washington Post piece that investigates cronyism and racism throughout the ranks of the New Jersey governor’s 8,400-soldier militia. Gen. Michael L. Cunniff 90 days to meet the USA military’s fitness requirements and slim down after learning he was reprimanded by the Pentagon past year for his excessive weight and for missing physical-fitness tests.

Gov. Christie has ordered the head of the New Jersey National Guard to shape up or ship out. Christie repeatedly insisted he had “no knowledge or involvement” in his aides’ scheme to close lanes on the George Washington Bridge in order to exact political retribution on a Democratic mayor who declined to endorse the governor’s re-election effort.

In an emailed statement, Christie spokesman Kevin Roberts told The Post the governor found the general’s actions “unacceptable and disappointing”.

The National Guard later released a statement in which Gen. Cunniff acknowledged he failed to meet the Air Force’s fitness requirements in recent years.

“IO2: Why did you not take the test for three years running?”

The information about the weight issue was gleaned via the Freedom of Information Act, but it is unknown how many pounds the general must drop.

“I do recognize that military members and leaders, like myself, are held to a higher standard”, Cunniff wrote to the Post.

Christie’s stomach banding surgery, which some say he secretly underwent in 2013, restricted his eating.

But the GOP presidential candidate has also struggled with his own weight.