New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) defended GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney's decision to release only two years of tax returns in an interview Thursday with Nevada political journalist Jon Ralston.
"I think every candidate's got to make the issue on the tax returns for themselves," he said. "You don't think anybody in America's gonna make their decision upon Mitt Romney's tax returns -- that's just silly."
He then turned to the subject of Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.), who has repeatedly hammered Romney over the issue of the release of his taxes and who claims that he heard from an unnamed Bain investor that Romney hadn't paid taxes for 10 years. "Of course Harry Reid wants to talk about that, because Harry Reid can't talk about the fact that he's presided over a Senate that hasn't passed a budget for three years. I mean, he doesn't want to talk about the substance of what affects real Americans' lives. I do. And so does Mitt Romney."
Reid's office didn't immediately respond to a request for comment.
"So people can talk about tax returns all you want. Individual candidates make those judgements," Christie said.
Shortly before Romney released one -- likely incomplete -- year of tax returns in January, Christie said that Romney should release the returns immediately and "sooner than later, because it's always better to have full disclosure."
The Romney campaign has said that the candidate will release his 2011 taxes before the November election.
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