The allegation that he knew despite years of public proclamations to the contrary could cause a headache for the Trump campaign, which routinely deploys Mr. Christie as a campaign surrogate and has tasked him with managing a transition if Mr. Trump wins in November.
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As the trial of his former associates involved in the “Bridgegate” scandal began Monday, New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s relationship with voters continued to deteriorate, his once bright star still dropping.
The former deputy chief of staff to Republican Gov. Chris Christie was a “minnow” compared to others who knew about or had a hand in closing access lanes at the George Washington Bridge in 2013. And so I would have no problem if called to testify by either side. He argued that Kelly was a “scapegoat”, blamed by the governor’s lawyers for the lane closures to protect Christie’s nascent presidential campaign.
“We’ve all dealt with the frustration of the Port Authority not being operated with for the correct reasons, but to hear it discussed in open court by the two defense attorneys talking about how the Port Authority is truly a patronage pit, a wasteful operation, really underscores the work that the Senator and I have been doing to try to reform it, which is how this whole investigation started out”, Wisniewski said.
The NY Times reports that the accusation came in the opening statements in the trial of two former Christie administration officials, Bridget Anne Kelly and Bill Baroni.
Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich could also testify Tuesday. Despite desperate appeals about public safety, the closures would continue for another two days.
“Not only was that conduct mean spirited and vindictive”, Khanna said.
Baroni didn’t return the mayor’s phone calls because he was told “the study was important to Trenton and if the mayor was called back it would mess up the results”, Baldassare said. “Events don’t happen in a vacuum”. Christie could lose out on future opportunities if more clues regarding his awareness of the closures come out.
He reminded jurors Christie was considered the Republican frontrunner in 2013 and said his aides wanted to protect the governor but pinning the blame on Kelly: “They’re not going to let no one such as Bridget Kelly and nothing such as the truth get in the way”. Kelly sent the now-infamous email, “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee”.
Bendul described heavy traffic near the bridge and testified that an official from the Port Authority of NY and New Jersey told him to “have the mayor call Baroni”.
In response to reporters’ queries, Christie aide, Brian Murray, pointed to comments by the governor in 2014 that he had no idea the lanes had been shut down, the New York Times reported. It is alleged that the chaos was a planned action of retribution against Fort Lee’s mayor Mark Sokolich, for declining to endorse Christie in the latter’s 2013 gubernatorial election.
The siege ended only when Patrick Foye, the executive director of the Port Authority and an appointee of New York Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, ordered the lanes reopened on the fifth morning.
One of those people, Christie’s former press secretary, Michael Drewniak, spoke of wanting to beat a newspaper columnist with a “lead pipe” to “put everyone on notice”, according to Kelly’s lawyer. Wildstein and Baroni were the ones who allegedly told Christie face-to-face about the lane closures, during a ceremony in memoriam of the 2001 terrorist attacks.
The pair are charged with misusing federally funded property, wire fraud and depriving residents of their civil rights to travel freely in the town. The most serious carries a maximum 20-year prison sentence.
Prosecutors say along with former bridge authority official David Wildstein, Kelly and Baroni closed the lanes to create gridlock to punish a mayor for not endorsing Christie.
“She knew this guy was a powerful person”, Critchley told the jury.
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“The defense will do everything they can to call his credibility into question”, Vartan said. He’s a bully, he’s an asshole, he’s a disgusting person, he’s the most complicated person I’ve ever met.
