Locking up anti-Trump donors, Chris Christie has a Kushner on his side

Chris Christie's quest to build an anti-Trump coalition is starting to take financial shape — and he's got a Kushner in his corner.

The former New Jersey governor is well behind in fundraising for the 2024 presidential primary, having drawn nearly $1.7 million through June 30. Only former Vice President Mike Pence and former Arkansas Gov. Asa Hutchinson have raised less, while Republican frontrunner Donald Trump is just shy of $36 million.

But Christie's latest filing with the Federal Election Commission shows some notable names, a small sign that he's attracting a segment of voters against Trump in the six weeks since he entered the race. The one that stands out the most is Murray Kushner, an uncle to Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner. Murray and his wife, Lee, who live in New Jersey, each donated $3,300, according to the Federal Elections Commission.

Christie's notable donors also include George Conway, husband to Kellyanne Conway when she was Trump's White House senior counselor; Trump's one-time communications director Anthony Scaramucci; and Barbara Comstock, a former U.S. Representative from Virginia.

Comstock, who also donated to Hutchinson's campaign, said she is backing the two former governors because of their support for Ukraine, the way they dealt with the Jan. 6 attacks "honestly" and their opposition to Trump.

"You have to go through him, not around him. In the case of Chris, he’s been highly effective on that," Comstock said. "I obviously know it’s a challenge with the way that the party is, but I think it’s important that there be people in the arena to remind people of what Republicans used to stand for. We were there before Trump was."

Perhaps Christie's most intriguing donor is Murray Kushner, but he is not a new supporter of Christie's. He and his wife also gave to Christie's 2016 campaign (and Jeb Bush's).

The Kushner family has a long history of donating to New Jersey politicians, mostly Democrats. But the donations to Christie serve as a reminder of the bizarre and tangled relationship he has with the Kushners.

"Given the family connections to the Trump White House, it is really just unbelievable," said Micah Rasmussen, director of the Rebovich Institute for New Jersey Politics at Rider University.

Long before Jared Kushner married Ivanka Trump and became a top adviser to the president, Chris Christie was a friend of Donald Trump who knew the Kushners only because of their wealth and political ties. The family built a construction and real estate empire in New Jersey that eventually sprawled into New York.

Murray Kushner is the brother of Charles Kushner, Jared's father. Before Christie became governor, he was the U.S. attorney for New Jersey and successfully prosecuted Charles Kushner, sending him to prison for making illegal campaign contributions, witness tampering and tax evasion.

But the case was much more salacious than the charges suggest.

The family had erupted in a bitter dispute over their real estate business, with Murray Kushner and his sister, Esther, suing Charles. Then an attorney for Esther and her husband, Bill Schulder, called in Christie with an explosive allegation: Charles had set Bill up with a prostitute and videotaped it as blackmail.

"Of all the sordid cases my office had been involved with over the past few years, this was a new one," Christie wrote in his memoir, "Let Me Finish: Trump, the Kushners, Bannon, New Jersey and the Power of In-Your-Face Politics."

Christie's office investigated the claim and ultimately reached a plea deal with Charles Kushner, who was sentenced to two years in prison. He served 14 months but had his crimes pardoned by Trump in 2020.

By all accounts the Kushner family has been fractured ever since. Murray Kushner did not return a message Thursday.

Though Christie's fundraising lags other candidates', his donors feature high-profile names and many familiar ones from New Jersey. Here are some other notable donors, according to the FEC:

— Mike Brey, the new assistant coach of the NBA's Atlanta Hawks, donated $1,200. Brey was formerly the basketball coach at the University of Notre Dame, which one of Christie's daughters attended.
— Jack Ciattarelli, one of the most outspoken Republican critics of Christie while in office, gave $1,000. Ciattarelli unsuccessfully ran for governor in 2017 and 2021.
— Barbara Comstock, the former U.S. representative from Virginia, donated $500.
— George Conway, one of the most vocal Trump critics even when he was married to Kellyanne Conway, donated $500. The couple announced in March they were divorcing.
— Barry Diller, the entertainment mogul, donated $3,300.
— Kim Guadagno, Christie's lieutenant governor for eight years, donated $300. She and Christie had a rocky relationship toward the end of their second term and she left the Republican Party in 2021.
— David and Susan Rockefeller, registered Democrats, donated $2,000.
— Christopher "Mad Dog" Russo, the Sirius XM sports radio host, donated $2,500. Russo used to work at New York's WFAN radio station, which Christie regularly appeared on as a co-host.
— Anthony Scaramucci, who famously lasted less than two weeks as Trump's communications director, and his wife, Deidre, each donated $3,300. Scaramucci has been a vocal critic of Trump since being fired by him.
— David and Nicole Tepper, owners of the Carolina Panthers football team, each donated $3,500. David Tepper was New Jersey's richest resident when he moved to Florida in 2015, causing the state a significant tax loss. But he moved back in 2020 and records show he and Nicole have addresses in Bridgewater and Miami Beach, Fla.

Daniel Han contributed to this report.