Meg Whitman blasts Chris Christie for Trump endorsement

Trump, who has never held political office, has run a controversial campaign described by some as xenophobic, singling out immigrants from Mexico for censure, while proposing an all-out ban on Muslims entering the United States.

Gov. Chris Christie said Sunday that while he doesn’t agree with Donald Trump on every issue, he believes the billionaire businessman is the strongest candidate against the Democrats this fall. That’s been his approach since a GOP debate in Texas on Thursday. Cruz cited reports that Trump’s company has worked with “major NY crime families”, including the jailed “Fat Tony” Salerno.

“We are not going to turn over the conservative movement to a con artist who is telling people one thing but has spent 40 years sticking it to working Americans and now claims to be their champion”, he said on NBC’s “Today” program.

What’s changed about Trump’s experience or temperament since August, when Christie first said that?

“The Republican primary voters deserve to know if there’s a scandal, if there is, as Mitt Romney put it, a bombshell in Donald Trump’s taxes, we deserve to know, the voters deserve to know and to vet the candidates”, Cruz said.

PHOTOS: Marco Rubio rally in Kennesaw.

Rubio, who has criticized Trump for resisting releasing his tax returns, had not released his own by Saturday afternoon.

Many party leaders hope U.S. Senator Marco Rubio of Florida will somehow overtake Trump before the party’s nominating convention in July, despite Rubio’s not having won any states and lagging behind in Trump in opinion polls.

“This guy has a fresh mouth”, Trump said of Rubio on Saturday. Trump said that his tax returns have been audited for many years and asserted that he could not release his returns until that process comes to an end.

Trump’s tax returns and questions about his personal wealth have been points of interest throughout his campaign. In Texas, Trump is locked in a close fight with his main rival Senator Ted Cruz.

“I didn’t just meet Donald Trump on the debate stage in August”, he said.

The endorsement by Christie, who early on was considered to be a competitive Republican candidate, was so far the most influential one for the Republican front-runner, as Rubio continued to rack up endorsements from party establishment after the suspension of Jeb Bush’s candidacy.