Chris Christie 'threatened' at San Francisco airport

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Suspicious passenger 'threatened Chris Christie' in first-class area of plane in San Francisco on Friday, another passenger claimed
Man was seen out of his seat and taking pictures of crew members
Pilot took the plane back to the airport and all passengers were evacuated in groups of five, delaying the plane by five hours
Christie, a Republican presidential candidate, was among those searched and some passengers were given extra screening for explosives residue
Passenger who tweeted claim of a threat against Christie retracted the allegation, and Christie released a statement saying he was not threatened
The passenger accused of causing the scare was put on a separate flight

By Ollie Gillman and Ashley Collman For Dailymail.com

Published: 16:30 EST, 20 November 2015 | Updated: 21:15 EST, 20 November 2015

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Chris Christie was threatened by a suspicious passenger on board a plane that was evacuated after the man took pictures of the crew and sent tweets in Arabic, another passenger has claimed.

The Republican presidential candidate was allegedly 'threatened' on board a flight from Boston to San Francisco by a man who was travelling in first class.

Passengers on board the flight say they were then taken off in groups of five to be individually searched - with some even being swabbed for explosives residue - delaying the plane by five hours.

Governor Christie was among those taken off the plane for screening, Daily Mail Online understands.

Chris Christie (pictured at the airport today) was on board the plane that was evacuated

Passengers on the flight say they were taken off in groups of five to be patted down individually

One passenger, David Berlind, tweeted that the suspicious man 'threatened Chris Christie', leading to the plane taxiing back to the airport. He later retracted that claim

The suspicious man was out of his seat and taking pictures of crew members as the plane was taxiing at the airport.

Fellow passenger David Berlind tweeted that the man 'threatened Chris Christie', leading to the plane taxiing back to the airport.

'He saw a guy taking pics of crew & emailing them in Arabic (said his seatmate),' Berlind wrote.

According to the San Francisco police, the another passenger saw the pictures, in addition to a picture of a cellphone with wires protruding from it, and reported it to the crew.

The flight from San Francisco to Boston was scheduled to take off at 8.32am, but the pilot took the plane back to the gate because of 'operational difficulties'.

Passengers on board the flight say they were then taken off in groups of five to be individually searched.

David Berlind explained in later tweets why he initially said that Chris Christie had been threatened

Governor Chris Christie (pictured in New York recently) is on the campaign trail as a Republican Presidential candidate

At 1pm Pacific Time, the plane was finally re-boarding to take off. The passenger who was taken off the flight was put on a different plane to Boston after the FBI and police performed a background check, WHDH reports.

Mr Berlind later revised his earlier statement after speaking with a man who said he was sitting next to Christie in first class. He said Christie had not been threatened.

And a statement from Christie said: 'At no point did Governor Christie interact with this passenger nor did this passenger pose a verbal or physical threat to the Governor. Any other inquiries about this matter should be directed to United Airlines.'

A United Airlines spokesman said: 'United Airlines flight 1108 departed at 1:59p.m. PST, just over five hours late, following a delay that resulted from a passenger not complying with crew member instructions. We will be reaching out to our customers individually to apologize.'