Christie burned by beach trip

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie is feeling the heat after visiting a beach he closed to the public. The Star-Ledger, the state’s largest newspaper, snapped aerial shots of the Republican governor sunbathing with friends and family at Island Beach State Park on Sunday, just hours before hosting a news conference about a state government shutdown. Christie closed the public beach for the holiday weekend amid a budget standoff in the state legislature. Reporters asked Christie if he got any sun that day. “I didn’t,” he responded. Photos of Christie at the beach soon went viral on social media, trending as a top topic on Twitter. The Star-Ledger posted a photo of Christie on the front page of its Monday edition, and columnist Tom Moran called Christie New Jersey’s “liar in chief.” Amid the backlash from the photos, Brian Murray, a Christie spokesman, confirmed the governor did visit the beach briefly but said Christie didn’t lie: “He did not get any sun. He had a baseball hat on.”