 In 2014, the U.S. Department of Justice started an investigation of Christie for making state grants of Hurricane Sandy relief funds to New Jersey cities conditional on support for other projects.Continuing the tradition of earlier New Jersey governors since the 1980s, Christie traveled to Israel in April 2012.During the visit, which included meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and President Shimon Peres, Christie commented that "Jerusalem has never been better or freer than under Israeli control."