“I absolutely dispute it”, Christie told reporters.
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He was in NY on Wednesday morning appearing as a guest on a sports radio talk show.
She may have come away the pundits’ victor, but New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said Thursday, Sept. 16, 2015, Carly Fiorina talked too much last night about herself and not enough about the issues.
The filing – by lawyers for one of the former Port Authority of NY and New Jersey officials charged in the bridge scandal – said Renna’s text message was sent to campaign staffer Peter Sheridan as Christie held the December 13, 2013, news conference.
NEWARK, N.J. (AP) According to a new court filing, a former Chris Christie aide texted to a colleague that the New Jersey governor “flat out lied” at a news conference about the George Washington Bridge lane-closing scandal.
Renna’s attorney, Henry Klingeman, said she will not answer questions before she testifies at the upcoming trial of Bill Baroni, the former deputy executive director of the Port Authority, and Bridget Kelly, Christie’s former deputy chief of staff.
The text messages came to light Wednesday in a court filing by lawyers for Christie minions facing trial for the lane closures. A former Port Authority official was forced to resign, Christie fired a deputy chief of staff who helped orchestrate the closures, and multiple officials from Christie’s campaign are still tied up in lawsuits related to the case. That either Christie or Renna is lying about whether he knew of his staff’s involvement in the lane closings the day of the press conference.
The governor pointed out that the text messages were submitted by a defense attorney, and didn’t come from a witness under oath.
Christie said he had “absolutely no reason to believe” that anyone on his staff or in his administration had knowledge of the closures for political retribution.
In two separate investigations and in the U.S. Attorney’s continuing inquiry, Christie has not been linked to the traffic scheme that prosecutors say resulted from the Fort Lee mayor’s failure to endorse him for re-election in 2013.
Christie had earlier told a reporter that Stepien had assured him he had no knowledge of the lane closures.
Renna later deleted the text messages. Baroni’s lawyers say the government is ignoring key evidence that points blame toward others, and included Renna’s texts as an example. At the time, Kelly was Renna’s supervisor in Christie’s Office of Intergovernmental Affairs.
Bridget Kelly and Bill Baroni face charges including wire fraud and civil rights violations.
Prosecutors alleged in a nine-count indictment that Kelly and Baroni misappropriated resources of the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, which owns the bridge.
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The government is expected to show jurors numerous text and emails between Kelly, Baroni and Wildstein that purportedly show them reveling in the chaos they caused in Fort Lee over four days in September 2013.
