What Trump says about Bridgegate, NJ taxes, Christie looking like buds with Obama

The gloves are off: Donald Trump attacked Chris Christie over Bridgegate and other issues hours after the governor criticized Trump over his proposal to stop Muslims from entering the United States.

Speaking at a campaign rally in South Carolina on board the USS Yorktown, Trump told the crowd, "I've been nice to Christie, but he really hit me today. So Chris, who's a friend of mine, he hit me hard. And I said, 'I've got to hit him at least once.'"

Christie had jabbed around the edges in his previous comments about Trump but came down hard during an appearance on the nationally syndicated Michael Medved Show as news broke about Trump's comments, calling them "ridiculous"  and show a lack of experience on Trump's part.

"There's no question in my mind but there are folks in this race who don't care about what the law says because they're used to being able to just fire people indiscriminately on television. So they don't have to worry about laws say or not say," Christie told Medved.

Trump noted that Christie is down in the polls and went on to hit Christie on three issues that have dogged him: Bridgegate, the state's credit rating and Christie's relationship with President Obama in the days after Superstorm Sandy hit New Jersey.

Bridgegate:

"Look, here's the story: The George Washington Bridge, he knew about it. Hey, how do you have breakfast with people every day of your lives. They're closing up the largest bridge in the world. Traffic flowing during rush hour. People couldn't get across for six, seven hours. Ambulances, fire trucks. They're with him all the time, the people that did it.  They never said, 'Hey boss, we're closing up the George Washington Bridge tonight.' No, they never said that. They're talking about the weather, right? So he knew about it. Totally knew about it."

"I would say that there's less than 1% chance (Christie's telling the truth). It could be. But I doubt it. He knew about it."

Credit Rating:

"No. 2, nine downgrades of the state. Nine downgrades. It's a disaster. I have property over there, the taxes are through ... I'll use an expression: coming out of my ears, OK? Tremendous taxes over there."

Obama and Superstorm Sandy

"You had Christie so friendly with President Obama during the flood. I actually called, I said, 'Let me ask you, is he going to vote for Obama?' I thought he was going to vote for Obama. I don't know, I think he possibly did."

Trump also referenced Christie not attending a Romney rally in Bucks County, Pa. right before the 2012 presidential election. citing the need to concentrate on Sandy relief. "And Romney. One of the reasons I was disappointed was that they had dinner right after the election. If Christie did that to me I'd never have spoken to him again."