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Chris Christie Says He Lost Sleep, Appetite Over Bridgegate

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie speaks about his knowledge of a traffic study that snarled traffic at the George Washington Bridge during a news conference on January 9, 2014 at the Statehouse in Trenton, New Jersey. According to reports Christie's Deputy Chief of Staff Bridget Anne Kelly is accused of giving a signal to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey to close lanes on the George Washington Bridge, allegedly as punishment for the Fort Lee, New Jersey mayor not endorsing the Governor during the election.
Photo: Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images

To celebrate the report he commissioned on Bridgegate, which just so happens to completely exonerate him, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie sat for his first interview since the scandal to talk about how difficult it’s been for him. “Sometimes, people do inexplicably stupid things,” he tells Diane Sawyer in a perfectly timed chat airing tonight. “And so that’s what makes it so hard then … as the guy in charge. None of it made any sense to me,” he said. “And to some extent still does not.”

Christie has not taken questions from reporters since his marathon press conference on January 9, opting instead for friendly town halls. But now that a big official document says he was “welling up with tears” and “expressed shock at the revelations” of what his staff had done, Christie is letting it all out.

You don’t sleep. You don’t eat. You, um, you struggle. You struggle,” he confides in Sawyer. “But I do believe that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger.”

On the plus side, the Christie family got to hang out with Diane Sawyer:

Christie Tells Diane Sawyer About Bridgegate