Former New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a Republican, said the email was "a complete overstep" that would be defeated in court.
"From a management perspective, you can see what a clown car this is right now," Christie said during ABC News' "The Week" on Sunday. (Reporting by Jonathan Landay and Sarah N. Lynch in Washington and Joseph Ax in Princeton, New Jersey, Additional reporting by Marisa Taylor, Kanishka Singh, Brad Heath, Valerie Volcovici, Ted Hesson, Karen Freifeld, Timothy Gardner, Pete Schroeder, Nathan Layne and Nate Raymond; Editing by Scott Malone and Andrea Ricci)