Chris Christie skewers Haley and DeSantis on hot mic before ending 2024 campaign

(CNN)_Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie announced Wednesday that he was ending his campaign for the 2024 Republican presidential nomination, marking the exit of the most outspoken critic of former President Donald Trump in the Republican primary.

But first, Christie made a few unofficial remarks — off camera on a live microphone — skewering his now former GOP rivals.

“She’s gonna get smoked and you and I both know it. She’s not up to this,” Christie could be heard saying in apparent reference to Haley.

He also mentioned that DeSantis had contacted him.

“DeSantis called me, petrified that I would…,” Christie said before the audio cut out. New Hampshire campaign chair Wayne MacDonald confirmed to CNN that he was on the other end of the conversation.

Later Wednesday after the CNN debate, when asked if he was petrified about something, DeSantis said, “No, look, I’ve been to Fallujah and Ramadi. I mean, this is nothing.”

“I did call him just because I felt he was being treated poorly with all these people saying like, you know, you should go,” DeSantis added. “I said you have every right to do this.”

Christie wasn’t kind in his assessment of his opponents.

“Anyone who is unwilling to say (Trump) is unfit to be president of the United States,” Christie said, “is unfit themselves to be president of the United States.”

Christie’s departure comes on the heels of a new batch of disappointing poll numbers, especially in New Hampshire, where he hoped a less conservative electorate would coalesce around his sharp opposition to Trump, whom he described as “devoid of character.”