NJ Gov: No Regret for Calling Man an 'Idiot' New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says he doesn't regret calling a former Navy SEAL an "idiot" during a heated exchange at a recent public event. Christie's comment capped off the two-minute exchange with 34-year-old William Brown at a town hall-style event Thursday. Brown, a former Democratic candidate for state Assembly, challenged the Republican governor's plan to merge two public universities, Rutgers and Rowan. Brown is a law student at the Rutgers-Camden campus who opposes the plan, and he interrupted Christie several times before being escorted out. Christie defended his comment Monday, saying: "He acted like an idiot. He's an idiot. I don't have any regret about it at all. Christie says he honors the Mount Laurel man's military service, but that "doesn't give him the right to be a jerk."