Chris Christie slams Vivek Ramaswamy as ‘obnoxious blowhard’ for mocking Haley

Washington: Former New Jersey governor Chris Christie has slammed his Republican presidential rival Vivek Ramaswamy as the "most obnoxious blowhard in America" after the biotech entrepreneur mocked fellow Indian-American Nikki Haley's intelligence.

Christie, 61, made the stunning remarks during the fourth Republican presidential debate in Arizona. Haley and Florida Governor Ron DeSantis were the two other candidates on the debate stage.

Christie’s remarks came after Ramaswamy criticised Haley and claimed that the former governor could not name three provinces in eastern Ukraine where she would send US troops.

"She has no idea what the hell the names of those provinces are, but she wants to send our sons and daughters in our trimmings and our military equipment to go fight it," said Ramaswamy, 38.

"Look at the blank expression," he added. "She doesn’t know the names of the provinces." Before Haley, 51, a former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, could respond to Ramaswamy's remarks, Christie took aim at him and said: "This is the fourth debate that you would've been voted in the first 20 minutes as the most obnoxious blowhard in America, so shut the hell up." "We’re now 25 minutes into this debate and he has insulted Nikki Haley’s basic intelligence. Not her positions, her basic intelligence: She doesn’t know regions and she wouldn’t be able to find something on a map that his three-year-old could find,” he said.

“If you want to disagree on issues, that's fine, and Nikki and I disagree on some issues," he said.

"I've known her for 12 years, which is longer than he's even started to vote in the Republican primary, and while we disagree about some issues and disagree about who should be president of the United States, what we don't disagree on is this is a smart, accomplished woman and you should stop insulting her," he said.

Christie said that Ramaswamy lacked experience and claimed that while he was serving as the top federal prosecutor in New Jersey, the Indian-American businessman was "learning about the provinces in Ukraine sitting with his smarta** mouth at Harvard." “All he knows how to do is insult good people who have committed their lives to public service and not say anything that moves the ball down the field for the United States," Christie said.