"I certainly don't believe, I don't want to believe that Craig's a criminal, but I've also been a prosecutor," Christie told NJ Advance Media's Stephen Stirling. "So, I'm anxious to hear all the facts come out, but it won't change our friendship. He's a friend and I feel bad for him, I feel bad for his wife and I feel bad for his children. Because, in today's world, there's no avoiding it. There's no shielding the children from it. They all have smart phones, so they're all going to see this stuff about their dad and I know that's really hard for them. So, he's my friend, he remains my friend and I hope it works out for him because it would be an awful thing not only for him but for his wife and kids."
"We're friends with his wife and his children, they've swam in our pool, they've come to our house for barbecues, we've gone to theirs. We've gone out to dinner together. This friendship has been a friendship for a decade."
Christie said he has spoken to Carton "a couple times, but only to be supportive," and to offer any assistance he can provide to Carton and his family.
"'You want [Carton's] kids to come over here? Do they need a distraction? Do they want to come over and play with Patrick or Bridget (Christie's youngest children)? Do you and Kim (Carton's wife) want someplace to hide where people aren't staking you out? You know, come here if you want,'" Christie said he told Carton. "And he hasn't done any of that, but I just want him to know that ... I'm not the kind of guy that cuts and runs."
"If he's made mistakes, if he has, he says he hasn't. He hasn't said that to me but that's what I read in the papers. If he hasn't then he'll be exonerated. And if he is, there will be a lot of people that have to explain. And if he has, he'll be held responsible but that won't change the depth of our friendship over the last ten years and it won't change how I'll try to help his wife and his children. Because from everything I've read, they had no idea, no involvement in any of this stuff so they shouldn't get tagged any worse than they have already."
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