Former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) asserted CNN was "in the tank" for Donald Trump because the network hosted a town hall with a friendly audience for the former president.

During a panel segment on ABC's This Week program, host Jonathan Karl noted that the crowd at CNN's town hall appeared to approve of Trump.

"As to the audience reaction, let's face it, CNN went in the tank to get Trump on there," Christie opined. "They allowed him to negotiate who was going to be in that audience. And those were all Trump supporters."

"I know a lot of those people in that audience," he continued. "I spent a lot of time in New Hampshire eight years ago, and a lot of those are the same faces that I saw eight years ago."

He added: "Those were all people who, in the main, 80% or so were Trump supporters. So that was a negotiation deal that Trump did with CNN, and I think CNN was wrong for doing it."