Thursday was the inaugural night for the newly-created Chris Christie Institute for Public Policy at Seton Hall University in Newark, and Christie chose New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo as his first guest.
Although from different parties — Christie a Republican and Cuomo a Democrat — both leaders spoke about how they worked closely together, bridging any ideological divide.
Christie recalled the first time they met over what turned into a four-hour dinner, and telling his wife Mary Pat about it when he got home.
"I came home — I remember coming home late that night and saying to Mary Pat, 'This is going to be good. We are really going to be able to work together,'" Christie recalled. "When you connect with somebody, from the first time you sit down with them and have a conversation with them."
Cuomo shared his recollection of that night and how he too was impressed. But he began is answer with this response:
"I remember thinking I drank too much wine when I got home," Cuomo said.
"Part of the plan!" Christie said, laughing.
Christie also asked Cuomo for his impressions on the scandal currently engulfing the Trump administration over a phone call with the leader of Ukraine, and Democratic efforts to impeach the president.
"I think we now go to a very long and unproductive road. The speaker, Speaker Pelosi, I think was dealing with pressure from her caucus," Cuomo said. "We were talking about pressure from the left. There is a heightened leftist component to the Democratic Party that she was feeling pressure for."
A spokesperson for Cuomo said his position was that Democrats should pursue an investigation of Trump but stopped short of calling for impeachment.
Toward the end of the sometimes candid conversation, Christie asked Cuomo why he chose not to run for president. Cuomo explained that he had too much he still wanted to accomplish as governor.
"I would basically have had to give up my term. And Joe Biden was going to run, and he is a friend, and he has been very good to New York. For a long time," Cuomo said. "So, you put all of those things together and that was the reason."
Christie and Cuomo also talked about the inability to secure funding for the Gateway rail tunnel under the Hudson River connecting the two states. Christie killed a funded plan for the tunnel back in 2010 when Obama was president. Christie told us Thursday night he has no regrets about that decision.