Passengers Say Christie Was Threatened on Boston-Bound Flight, Campaign Denies It (UPDATED)

Andrew DesiderioNov 20th, 2015, 4:58 pm
 

christieAfter a series of tweets from passengers who claimed that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) was threatened on a Boston-bound flight, the presidential candidate’s campaign issued a statement saying that Christie was never threatened verbally or physically by anyone.

“Governor Christie, an aide and a member of his security detail were traveling on a United flight from San Francisco to Boston this morning when a passenger was removed from the plane before takeoff at the request of United Airlines,” Christie campaign spokeswoman Maria Comella said in a statement emailed to reporters Friday afternoon. “At no point did Governor Christie interact with this passenger nor did this passenger pose a verbal or physical threat to the Governor. Any other inquiries about this matter should be directed to United Airlines.”

Comella’s assertions are at odds with those of Twitter users who say they were on board the United Airlines flight, which appeared to be delayed for a few hours at San Francisco International Airport while the airline dealt with the incident.

“Passenger threatened Chris Christie on my flight just before take off,” David Berlind wrote on Twitter. “Had to taxi all the way back. They made us deplane. Total fail.”

Another Twitter user who claimed to be a passenger on the flight corroborated some of those details.

Shortly after Comella’s statement was publicized online, Berlind clarified that his accounts of exactly what happened came from a different passenger who claimed to have been sitting next to Christie in first class.

If Berlind’s accounts are true, this would not be the first time Christie has found himself in the middle of a tense situation on public transit. Last month, he was forced to leave the “quiet car” on an Amtrak train for talking too loudly on his cell phone. His campaign said he did not realize he had entered the quiet car.

We will update this story if we hear any more information.

UPDATE — 8:05 p.m. ET: In a series of tweets, Berlind acknowledged that “Christie was apparently not threatened by another passenger,” noting that his information came from a secondary source.

[Image via Shutterstock]

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