With the Bridgegate trial underway in federal court, that low point for New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s administration is back in the news.
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Christie is seen favorably by 23 percent of New Jersey voters, down three points since April and seven points since a year ago, according to the Rutgers-Eagleton Poll released Monday.
Khanna told jurors that David Wildstein, another Port Authority official, will testify he and Baroni made Christie aware of the plan during a 9/11 memorial in New York City in 2013, three days after the gridlock started.
Even on Sunday, Christie maintained he didn’t know anything and would be willing to testify at the trial if called to do so.
Christie was a finalist for Donald Trump’s running mate on the 2016 Republican ticket. “But the fact is that I won’t because I really don’t have any knowledge of this incident at all”.
Bridget Anne Kelly, 44, is Christie’s former deputy chief of staff and Baroni, 44, is the governor’s former top executive appointee at the Port Authority of NY and New Jersey, which owns and operates the bridge.
Sokolich’s desperate entreaties to open the lanes for “public safety” fell on deaf ears.
“They agreed to and did use public resources to carry out a vendetta and exact retribution”, US Attorney for New Jersey Paul Fishman said in May 2015. “Not only was that conduct mean-spirited, and vindictive, it was illegal”. The opening arguments pertain to criminal charges against Baroni and Bridget Anne Kelly, two former top aides to the governor. “Events don’t happen in a vacuum”. Sure, top members of Christie’s team orchestrated and executed the plan, but the governor, his reputation for micromanaging notwithstanding, insisted he had no idea what was going on with his own top aides who were abusing their power in his name.
Kelly’s “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee” email to Wildstein was sent August 13, 2013, a day after she was notified Sokolich wouldn’t endorse Christie, Khanna said.
The closures snarled traffic for days at the mouth of the busiest bridge in the world. The Port Authority oversees the bridge.
Emails and text exchanges were also introduced to the jury, in which Baroni, Kelly, and Wildstein allegedly gloated about the gridlock caused by the closures and discussed not responding to Fort Lee Mayor’s numerous attempts to get in contact with them.
Wildstein is well known in New Jersey politics as a hard-nosed political operator who for years acted as one of the governor’s political enforcers within the Port Authority, according to NY, and who former colleagues have said ruled through intimidation at the agency.
In November, Baroni testified before the Assembly Transportation Committee and stuck to the original story, saying that the closure was the result of a traffic study but apologizing for not informing Fort Lee officials beforehand. Asked for comment, the governor’s office pointed to previous Christie statements that contradict prosecutors’ claims about when he learned of his associates’ involvement.
They face counts of wire fraud, conspiracy, deprivation of civil rights and misusing an organization receiving federal funds.
Wildstein has pleaded guilty, signed a cooperation agreement with the government and will be the star witness in the case.
“The defense will do everything they can to call his credibility into question”, Vartan said.
And a major part of the transition job is staffing – the new president will eventually have to fill thousands of political appointee jobs across the federal government, and many of those most important jobs will have to be filled during the transition.
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“David Wildstein is a vicious guy”, Baldassare told the jury in his opening statement. Christie has said he barely met with Wildstein while he was governor, but in court, defense attorneys said the evidence will show Christie kept close tabs on Wildstein.
