TRENTON -- Former Gov. Christie Whitman blasted Gov. Chris Christie's defense of Donald Trump after a racially charged attack on the integrity of a federal judge, saying that as a former U.S. attorney, the governor "knows better" but is motivated by career advancement.

In an interview with NJ Advance Media, Whitman joined a rising chorus of prominent Republicans who expressed concern and dismay at what they consider to be the use of racist rhetoric by Trump, the presumptive Republican nominee for president.

Trump is "a bully" whose rhetoric is a "danger to democracy," but Christie's defense of Trump was far more dangerous, Whitman said.

"As a former federal prosecutor, he should be very worried about the effect on the courts," Whitman said.

"To say that a judge cannot be unbiased because of his ethnicity, or that there's no way for a Muslim judge to be impartial is taking away the blindness of justice," she said. "But it's even worse if you're trying to justify it."

Christie, who serves as Trump's transition planning chairman, on Tuesday defended the mogul, saying he is "not a racist" and brushed off the controversy.

Trump accused U.S. District Judge Gonzalo Curiel,the presiding judge in a federal class action lawsuit that alleges fraud and racketeering at his for-profit Trump University, of having an inherent bias against him because of his Mexican ancestry.

Trump has called for walling off the entire U.S. southern border with Mexico as a response to illegal immigration.

Late Tuesday, Trump issued a statement saying that his comments "have been misconstrued as a categorical attack against people of Mexican heritage."

But Whitman insisted "there's no misconstruing" what Trump meant.

Having served as governor of New Jersey from 1994 to 2001 and administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency from 2001 to 2003 under President George W. Bush, Whitman said that the governor "has got other motivations" for defending Trump.

"As head of transition, he's in a position to carve out whatever job he wants," she said.

The governor's defense of Trump, she said, marked a stark departure from Christie's earlier years in the office, as when he defended a Muslim judge he'd appointed to the Superior Court from accusations that the judge would be imposing sharia, the religious legal system governing members of the Islamic faith.

"He knows better," Whitman said, adding that before Christie became a transition chair for Trump, "he had never been someone who appealed to people's fears about race."

Claude Brodesser-Akner may be reached at cbrodesser@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @ClaudeBrodesser. Find NJ.com Politics on Facebook.