Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie slammed fellow candidate Vivek Ramaswamy for his political inexperience, likening the entrepreneur to former president Barack Obama.
"The last person in one of these debates ... who stood in the middle of the stage and said, 'What's a skinny guy with an odd last name doing up here?' was Barack Obama," Christie said. "I'm afraid we're dealing with the same kind of amateur."
Ramaswamy, a businessman new to politics, faced attacks from his competitors throughout Wednesday night's Republican debate. Ramaswamy, whose campaign has surged in recent weeks, is polling in third place in the Republican primary, behind former president Donald Trump and Florida governor Ron DeSantis.
Pundits expected candidates to come after Ramaswamy in the debate given his popularity rise. Christie also criticized Ramaswamy as inauthentic, saying he "sounds like ChatGPT," the artificial intelligence chatbot.
Christie, who served as New Jersey governor from 2010 to 2018, first ran for president in 2016 but dropped out after a disappointing showing in the New Hampshire primary. He became the first major Republican to back Trump, whom he advised throughout the former president's successful 2016 White House bid.
He's since become one of the loudest critics of Trump. Christie entered the race swinging at Trump in early June, calling him a "self-serving mirror hog."