New Jersey GOP Gov. Chris Christie called the rollout of President Donald Trump's travel ban on seven majority-Muslim countries "terrible," blaming his aides for the mess.
Christie, among Trump's most prominent backers during the campaign but ultimately fired as his transition chief, lauded the president's intention to protect the nation from terror attacks, but said executive order was so "unartfully" explained it allowed Trump's critics to pounce.
The remarks were posted by a local ABC affiliate.
"The rollout of this executive order was terrible," Christie said at an unrelated event, answering questions from the press in New Jersey for the first time in 147 days, Politico reported.
"The right people were not involved or consulted. There was confusion in the enforcement that went on here."
"I think the president's intention here is right," Christie, a former federal attorney in New Jersey, added.
"His intention is to try to protect our country from terrorist attacks from people who mean to do us harm; however, I think you need to make those decisions based upon intelligence and not generalizations."
Christie's comments came in the wake of Trump's firing of the acting U.S. attorney general after she publicly questioned the constitutionality of his refugee and immigration order and refused to defend it in court.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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