Gov. Chris Christie (right) and Jared Kushner are supporting different candidates for U.S. Attorney for NJ (AP)

Andrew Seidman & Jonathan Tamari report for The Inquirer


Gov. Christie is pushing to have a former colleague and Bridgegate lawyer appointed as U.S. attorney for New Jersey, but he faces stiff headwinds from within the White House, where the governor has frequently clashed with President Trump’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner, according to interviews with a dozen political and legal sources familiar with the maneuvering.

Christie enlisted the state’s Republican congressmen to send a letter to Trump and Attorney General Jeff Sessions endorsing Craig Carpenito, a former federal prosecutor who defended Christie in a citizen’s complaint accusing him of official misconduct in the George Washington Bridge lane-closure scheme.

But Carpenito, who worked under Christie in the U.S. Attorney’s office, is running behind Geoffrey S. Berman, another ex-prosecutor who served on Trump’s transition team and has backing at the top levels of the White House. Berman’s allies, both inside and outside the Trump administration, have Kushner’s ear and support, said three sources with knowledge of the jockeying, all of whom requested anonymity to discuss the private wrangling involving two major political figures.