Foye also testified that he couldn’t fire Wildstein because it was “practically complicated”, though he conceded he had the statutory authority to fire him.
Advertisement
A former Port Authority of NY and New Jersey official who pleaded guilty in the George Washington Bridge lane-closing case testifies he considered himself the “bad cop” who would aggressively push Republican Gov. Chris Christie’s agenda at the powerful bistate agency.
Stepien and another former Christie aide who testified Friday now work for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s campaign.
She and Baroni claim former Port Authority official David Wildstein orchestrated the scheme.
Wildstein also said that, often times, he would report requests that the Port Authority was able to facilitate to Kelly. During opening statements, the US attorney’s office claimed that Christie knew about the lane closures as they were happening.
The government’s star witness in the “Bridgegate” trial took the stand Friday, CBS New York reported. Bridget Kelly leaves the Martin Luther King Jr. federal courthouse, Thursday, Sept. 22, 2016 in Newark, N.J. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s former deputy chief of staff, Bridget Kelly, and former Port Authority of New.
Traffic moves over the Hudson River and across the George Washington Bridge between New York City, and Fort Lee, New Jersey, on December 17, 2013.
Wildstein has been living in Sarasota, Florida since pleading guilty last spring. David Wildstein testified Friday that among those directly involved in the effort were Bridget Kelly and Bill Baroni, .
Wildstein, a former anonymous political blogger turned Baroni’s second in command at the bi-state authority, was described in opening arguments as “a frightful person” who, for his “entire adult life, has had a double life”, said Michael Baldassare, Baroni’s attorney.
While the Port Authority would provide the benefits, Wildstein testified, the governor’s office would control the process and take most of the credit in its quest to curry favor with politicians from whom it sought endorsements.
Wildstein’s testimony will continue on Monday at the U.S. Federal District Court in Newark.
That came after Wildstein’s lawyer alleged in a letter that Christie knew more about the plot than he had admitted in a series of news conferences.
In one case, Wildstein had the 100 flags flown over the World Trade Center site on the 10th anniversary of the September 11 attacks shipped to the governor’s office after the ceremony to be distributed to local officials as it saw fit.
Mowers, who now works for Trump, also testified he told Kelly about Sokolich’s decision on August 12, 2013, the day before Kelly sent an email to Wildstein saying, “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee”.
Patrick Foye, the executive director of the Port Authority, testified “hundreds”, if not “thousands”, of fellow employees disliked the man known as “the enforcer”.
Bridget Anne Kelly and her attorney Michael Critchley, far left, arrive at the Martin Luther King Jr.
Advertisement
Matt Mowers, a former campaign staffer for Christie, is expected to testify for the prosecution Friday.
