But behind the scenes, there’s an insurrection-in-the-making among powerful conservative groups in Washington that are skeptical of Christie’s leadership and want to exert influence over the process of filling roughly 4,000 jobs as part of a new administration, to say nothing of top White House slots and judgeships.

“Conservatives are very nervous about Chris Christie,” said the leader of one conservative activist group, who declined to go on record for fear of antagonizing Trump. “For his judicial nominees as the New Jersey governor, he appointed a bunch of liberals, or he treated the nominations like political payoff positions. It is the type of approach that would be devastating for Trump to have Christie, as attorney general, picking judges or applying the same approach to fill key regulatory positions in the EPA or Treasury Department.”

Christie himself has a lot at stake personally, with many seeing his leadership of the transition team as a testing ground for a future role in a Trump administration, potentially as attorney general. He and his top lieutenants have taken pains to involve different wings of the Republican party in the effort, including conservative activists.