Khizr Khan, father of fallen US Army Capt. Humayun S. M. Khan and his wife Ghazala. | AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File Christie calls Trump criticism of the Khans 'inappropriate'

In an unusual break with Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, Gov. Chris Christie said that Khizr and Ghazala Khan have the “right” to say whatever they want, and that criticism of them is “inappropriate.”

“I didn’t see Mr. Khan’s speech at the DNC but I’ll just say this: I’m a father and I just cannot imagine the pain of losing a child under any circumstances,” Christie said at an afternoon press conference in the Statehouse. “And for Mr. and Mrs. Khan, the pain of losing their son while defending our country is unfathomable, and I think it gives them the right to say whatever they want, whether they’re right or wrong.”


Trump tweeted that Khizr Khan — whose U.S. Army captain son Humayan was killed while serving in Iraq, and whose rebuke of Trump's position on Muslim immigration became a defining moment of the Democratic National Convention — had “no right” to question Trump’s knowledge of the constitution in front of millions of convention viewers last week. Trump also suggested in an interview that the family’s Islamic faith had something to do with the fact that Ghazala Khan was silent during her husband’s speech.

“We need to honor their sacrifice for our country and we need to honor their son’s sacrifice for our country," Christie said. "And to focus on anything other than that, to me, is missing the point. That’s what we should be doing, and any comments that we’re making publicly or privately should be with that in mind. My view on this is that the Khans have a right to say whatever it is they want regarding the loss of their son and that for all the Gold Star families out there, they have put forward a sacrifice that I cannot fathom as a parent.”

The comments were a departure from Christie’s defense of Trump during his last controversy on this scale, two months ago. After Trump said that an American-born judge of Mexican heritage couldn’t rule fairly in the Trump University lawsuit because “he’s a Mexican,” Christie refused to criticize Trump and said that he knows the nominee is not a racist.

But while Christie — an early and unwavering Trump endorser — defended the Khans, he would not offer an explicit opinion on whether Trump mishandled the exchange.

“I’ll give my advice to him as I always to, personally and privately,” Christie said.

Asked separately about Trump recently saying that Hillary Clinton is "the devil," Christie said, "Not the devil, no. But unqualified to be president of the United States."

Christie has harshly criticized Clinton’s character over the course of the election, most notably in his speech at the Republican National Convention in which he detailed her email scandal and her record as secretary of state and repeatedly asked the crowd, “Is she guilty or not guilty?”