While on the presidential campaign trail in Iowa on Saturday, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie expressed sharp criticism about the Obama administration’s prisoner swap deal.

In an interview with Iowa’s WHO TV Saturday morning, the GOP presidential hopeful said he’s “very happy” for the families of the Americans who were released but that the exchange raises fears that “this president is releasing more terrorists from Guantanamo to go back and re-enter the war on terror.”

“We shouldn’t have to swap prisoners,” he said. “These [Americans] were taken illegally in violation of international law and they should have been released without condition, but you know, the Iranians have treated this president with disrespect for years and he continues to take it. I would not take it as president.”

Washington Post reporter Ed O’Keefe, who is traveling with Christie, said the governor reiterated his viewpoint that the exchange is a bad deal at a town hall in Ames, Iowa later in the day. Christie said that the country should not have to give anything up to get its illegally detained citizens back. “If we had a President who was respected around the world, we wouldn’t have these folks taken in the first place,” he said.

“We have to be grateful that those folks are being sent home,” he said, “but we also have to scrutinize what this president gave away in the process.”

Below are his full remarks in Ames: