Donald Trump 'refused to give Chris Christie top job after governor offered him his germ-covered phone'

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie may not be in Donald Trump's Cabinet because of an election night mistake involving the President's germaphobia and a mobile.

Bloomberg Businessweek's Joshua Green has written a book, titled Devil's Bargain: Steve Bannon, Donald Trump and the Storming of the Presidency, which details the 8 Nov incident when Mr Christie allegedly said to Mr Trump: “If you win, [President Obama is] going to call my phone, and I’ll pass it over to you.”

Mr Trump, according to Mr Green's accounting, angrily rebuffed the offer to use someone else's mobile because of their germs so close to his face. He "flashed a look of annoyance, clearly resenting the intrusion" by Mr Christie into his personal space at a tense time of the vote count that night.

Mr Christie and Mr Obama had become closer in the wake of the Hurricane Sandy disaster, when the President had mobilised federal emergency aid to the state to aid in recovery.

"Hey Chris, you know my f****** phone number. Just give it to the president. I don’t want your f******phone."

Mr Christie "wouldn't recover" from the incident and was never offered a position in the Trump administration, Mr Green wrote, according to excerpts of the book acquired by the Daily Mail.

The book also makes the claim that Trump aides said it was the "ultimate mistake" and what led to Mr Christie's sacking as transition team lead.

He also reportedly made a faux pas by forcing his way into photos with Mr Trump on election night after the mobile incident.

Brian Murray, Mr Christie's press secretary, told The Independent that "the account in the book is complete fiction".

He said that Mr Christie did not "make any arrangements for any phone call from The White House to be placed on his cell phone for the President-elect".

Mr Murray noted that "the author should be ashamed of himself in passing off this account as true. It is fiction."

Mr Trump's germaphobia may not have been the only reason for Mr Christie's post-election ousting from the inner circle.

While US Attorney in New Jersey, he prosecuted White House aide and Mr Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner's father Charles in 2005 for illegal campaign contributions, tax evasion, and witness tampering.

The elder Mr Kushner had pled guilty to making campaign contributions in his partnerships' names to Democratic candidates for which he had no legal authorisation. He also tried to blackmail a witness who was cooperating with federal authorities, William Schulder, who is his sister's husband, by hiring a prostitute to seduce him and sending the tape of the incident to his sister.

He subsequently spent 14 months in a federal prison camp in Alabama.

Mr Christie currently has a historically low 15 per cent approval rating from voters in New Jersey after closing down public beaches due to a state government shutdown, but being pictured on one with his family earlier that day.

Mr Green's book also makes claims about senior adviser Steve Bannon's attitude towards House Speaker Paul Ryan, whom he allegedly called a "limp-d*** motherf***** born in a petri dish".