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Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie says President Donald Trump having family in the White House makes things worse. Buzz60

WASHINGTON Stunned and overwhelmed.

Thats how former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie describedMike Pences reaction to being elected vice president a job Christie wanted.

Christie doesnt savage Pence in a new book in which he blames toxic forces around President Donald Trump for the problems of his presidency.

But his portrayal of the man he first introduced to Trump who then beat him out to be Trumps running mate and took over the transition after Christie was fired from the job also isnt exactly flattering.

Heres what he had to say about Pence in "Let Me Finish: Trump, the Kushners, Bannon, New Jersey, and the Power of In-Your-Face Politics, the latest in a long line of books written by Trump associates offeringan inside account of aWhite House widely described as chaotic.

"Let Me Finish," by Chris Christie.(Photo: Hachette Books)

One of the assets Pence brought to the Trump ticket was his strong fundraising skills and network of conservative donors.

But Christie makes a point of noting that Pence needed his help when raising money for his 2012 gubernatorial campaign in Indiana. Christie said he campaigned and raised money for Pence three times, including once after initially declining so he could celebrate his wifes birthday.

Chris, please, Pence begged, according to the book. This donor says hell raise a huge amount of money if youre here. Please.

After getting the OK from his wife, Christie agreed and Pence raised a ton of money.

(Pences wife, Karen, gave Christie a beautifully wrapped present to take home to his wife.)

Four years later, Pence asked Christie to introduce him to Trump when Pence was deciding whom to back for the 2016 presidential nomination. Trump agreed to fly to Indiana. (At the time, Pences spokeswoman said the two were meeting because Trump reached out to the governor.)

Christie described the encounter at the Indiana governors residence as a nice though slightly stiff, very serious conversation led by Pence about the state of the country.

There werent many flashes of personality or much joviality between them, Christie wrote.

Before Trump left, Pence asked if they could pray together. Trump agreed, but later asked Christie if Pence does that all the time. Told that he does, Trump had a one word response: interesting.

Gov. Mike Pence and Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump met at the governor's residence on April 20, 2016.(Photo: Michelle Pemberton/IndyStar 2016 file photo)

Despite arranging the meeting with Trump, Christie said, he wasn't told when Pence decided toback Texas senator Ted Cruz instead. Trump was incensed.

Are you kidding me? he told Christie, according to his book. You take me out to see this guy and then the guy screws me? He stabs me in the back by endorsing Cruz? And how come he didnt give you any heads-up?

When Christie confronted Pence byphone, he hemmed and hawed but had no real explanation for the lack of warning, Christie wrote.

But Trump calmed down a bit after learning how much Pence had praised Trump while officially backing Cruz.

Pence had skillfully threaded the needle. Donald ended up winning Indiana, Christie wrote. No harm, no foul.

Christie suggestedthat Trump wanted Christie as his running mate but Trumps daughterIvankaand son-in-law Jared Kushner were opposed. (As a federal prosecutor, Christie sent Kushners father to jail and Christies book is full of his conflicts with Kushner.)

Christie was told that Paul Manafort, Trumps then-campaign manager, was also pushing for Pence. Manaforts 2016 support for Pence has been seen by some as potentially problematic for the vice president since Manafort is a central figure in special counsel Robert Muellers probe. But Christie saw Manaforts maneuvers for Pence as merely a way for him to stay in Kushners good graces.

Christie describedhimself as not willing to lobby for the jobof No. 2 as Trump held a final meeting with Pence in Indiana.

After Sean Hannity lent the third finalist, Newt Gingrich,his plane to fly to Indianapolis to try to intercede, Christie said a friend offered him a plane. Christie wrote that he declined because, Thats not who I am. Donald knows me. If he wants to pick me, he picks me. But Im not going to get into this.

But in Pence: The Path to Power, author Andrea Neal wrote that the driver taking Eric and Ivanka Trump and Jared Kushner to the airport after the meeting with Pence heard Eric telling the others that Christie had repeatedly called his father during the meeting. When Eric called Christie back from the car, the driver could hear him reassure an animated Christie that no decision had been made.

Trump called Pence that night and offered him the job, Neal and others have written.

Your dad was just asked to be the candidate for the vice president of the United States, Pence told his children, according to the book his daughter, Charlotte, published last year. The family hunched down in their car seats to avoid being seen as they were driven to the airport the next day to board a private plane to New York for the announcement.

But as Pence prepared for the clandestine trip, Christie wrote that Trump called him that morning to ask if he was still interested in the job.

Yes, I really want it, Christie said he told him.

And when Christie learned later in the day that Pence was flying in for the announcement, Trump blamed it on Manafort trying to force my hand.

Trump went on Fox News to say he hadnt made a final, final decision.

When Trump gave Christie the heads up the next day that he was about to tweet his choice of Pence, Christie admitted to being disappointed.

Youve got to understand, Chris, Trump responded, according to the book. Hes out of Central Casting.

Donald Trump and Mike Pence on stage at the conclusion of the 2016 Republican National Convention at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland on July 21, 2016.(Photo: Jack Gruber-USA TODAY)

Christie sat on Trumps left and Pence on his right as they watched increasingly positive returns come in election night. No one said much.

After one of the networks projected Trump would win Pennsylvania, a small group left the campaigns war room for Trumps residence. Christie, Pence and others started fleshing out a victory speech that existed as only bullet points not expected to be needed, according to the book.

After Hillary Clinton called Trump to concede, Christie wrote, Pence was just shaking his head.

He looked stunned and overwhelmed, Christie remembered. And he told Christies son that Christie had understood what Trump could do before anyone else had.

But thats not how Pence is portrayed in Neals book.

At no point during the evening did Pence envision defeat, she wrote, even texting to some friends the famous picture of President Harry Truman waving the 'Dewey defeats Truman'headline."

Christie doesnt say what he thinks about the job Pence has done as vice president, or that he did as head of the transition a post Pence was given after Christie was ousted from the job after the election.

But Christie wrote plentyabout the consequences of the campaign trashingthe detailed road map his team had prepared for legislative accomplishments, executive orders and key nominations. (The pre-vetted candidates included Pences predecessor as governor Purdue University President Mitch Daniels for education secretary. The list also included former Eli Lilly executive Alex Azar whom Trump ended up turning to after having to replace Tom Price, his first choice for Health and Human Services secretary.)

Christie blames Kushner, former presidential adviser Steve Bannon and others for discardinghis work for their own selfish reasons.

They set loose toxic forces, he wrote, that have made Trumps presidency far less effective than it would otherwise have been.

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Chris Christie book describes competition with Mike Pence ...