New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie made news over the weekend because of his family’s trip to the beach.
Why all the attention? According to NJ.com, Christie closed the state park because of a budget standoff.
New Jersey residents weren’t allowed to visit the beach over the weekend thanks to a government shutdown, NJ.com reported.
But aerial photos from NJ Advance Media showed Christie and his wife, Mary Pat Christie, and other family members at the beach
The photos came on Sunday afternoon before Christie spoke a press conference about the shutdown, NJ.com reported.
When asked if he got any sun on Sunday, Christie told reporters, "I didn't," he said. "I didn't get any sun today."
Brian Murray, the governor's spokesman, later said Christie saw the photos but didn’t get any sun, and rather stopped by quickly to speak with his family, according to BBC.
"He did not get any sun," Murray said, according to NJ.com. "He had a baseball hat on."
Christie later said he was traveling back and forth between the beach and Trenton, New Jersey, so that he could both spend time with his family and work on a deal to stop the government shutdown.
He said his beach house is separate from the park, and his family won’t have any available state services.
"I traveled there and I traveled back and I'll travel back again," Christie said. "That's where my family is sleeping, so that's where I'll sleep tonight. When I have a choice between sleeping with my family, and sleeping alone, I generally like to sleep where my family is."
Christie defended himself Monday morning, saying that reporters caught him doing nothing but spending time with his family.
He also later tweeted people should return to the beach.
But CNN’s Chris Cillizza wrote this may be a sign that Christie doesn’t care anymore. Christie, who quit the 2016 presidential race and currently has low approval ratings, will see his term end next year.
And so, he has little reasons to worry about his job, Cillizza wrote.
“When you see Christie on the beach then, you see a man who has stopped caring,” he wrote. “He knows he is done as a politician in New Jersey — and that his only possible future rests in the hands of a man who has built a political career on flouting convention,” referring to President Donald Trump.