TRENTON — Six months after losing his bid for the White House, Mitt Romney reiterated that he holds no "ill will" toward Gov. Chris Christie — but he lamented that Hurricane Sandy hit days before the presidential election.

"I can tell you the hurricane didn't come at the right time," Romney, the Republican candidate who challenged President Barack Obama, said during a television interview Friday on Fox News.

(Watch a clip here from the Huffington Post.)

Sandy struck the East Coast about a week before Election Day, and experts have noted that Obama got a last-minute lift in the race by visiting the damaged areas — including taking a tour of the Jersey Shore with Christie, a Republican and Romney supporter.

"One of the advantages of incumbency is that when there is an event like that, you get to see the president in a fatherly roll and showing his sympathy for people who were harmed, who had been victims of the storm," Romney said during Friday's interview. "And obviously, that gives a little boost to the president's efforts."

Christie — who had appeared at many of Romney's campaign events in the months before the election — canceled appearances for Romney after the storm hit and publicly praised Obama for his response to Sandy. The latter move irked some Republicans.

But Romney, the former governor of Massachusetts, stressed that he doesn't hold a grudge.

"I take responsibility for myself, and I've been a governor, and I know what happens when there's been a national disaster — and that is, you look for help from the federal government," Romney said. "You want the president and you want the other agencies of the federal government to step in and provide help.

"And Gov. Christie did what he thought was best for the people of his state, and I don't blame him for that at all. He was helpful to me and my campaign every way possible. I consider him a good friend. He has a great future, he's a terrific governor, he's doing a good job in New Jersey. I have no ill will."

Romney made similar comments in March during an interview with Fox News.

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