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Christie on baseball game confrontation: ‘If you give it, you’re going to get it back’

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said he does not regret confronting a baseball fan who heckled him at a game, saying simply, “If you give it, you’re going to get it back.”

A video of Christie at the game in Milwaukee emerged Sunday, showing the governor — nachos in hand — with his face inches from a fan’s, saying, “You’re a real big shot.” The fan told a local ABC News affiliate he had yelled, “You suck!” to the New Jersey governor.

The notoriously confrontational Christie was asked Monday on CNN whether he ever hesitates to respond in such circumstances. He was characteristically unapologetic, and even described his reaction as “mellow.”

“I’ve always said this — whether it was at my town hall meetings or anyplace else — if you give it, you’re going to get it back, and I think that was a very mellow reaction from a New Jersey governor — to just say, “You’re a real big shot’,” Christie said.

He added: “You know, most of these folks, they think they can say anything they want. Public officials are public servants, but they’re not meant to be public punching bags.”

Christie, who is term-limited and will depart the governor’s mansion in January 2018, recently made headlines for another public relations gaffe when aerial photos showed him and his family relaxing on a beach that was closed to the public during a state government shutdown.

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