If he wins the presidency, Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump would seek to purge the federal government of officials appointed by Democratic President Barack Obama and could ask Congress to pass legislation making it easier to fire public workers, Trump ally Chris Christie said on Tuesday.

Christie, who is governor of New Jersey and leads Trump's White House transition team, said the campaign was drawing up a list of federal government employees to fire if Trump defeats Democratic rival Hillary Clinton in the Nov. 8 presidential election.

"As you know from his other career, Donald likes to fire people," Christie told a closed-door meeting with dozens of donors at the Republican National Convention in Cleveland, according to two participants in the meeting and an audio recording obtained by Reuters.