“I absolutely dispute it”, he said.
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The governor, leaving the New York City studio where he spent four hours Wednesday morning co-hosting a sports radio show, pushed back against reporters who peppered Christie with questions on the claim he lied.
In the message, sent during a press conference Christie gave on the topic of the bridge closures in December 2013, Christina Genovese Renna, identified in court documents as Christina Genovese, told a campaign staffer that Christie “flat out lied” about his staff’s involvement in the scandal. David Wildstein, another former Port Authority official, has pleaded guilty to conspiracy and is cooperating with the government.
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.
Christie wasn’t charged in the lane-closing scandal and has denied knowing anything about it.
The text exchange was included in a filing Wednesday by lawyers for Bill Baroni, a former ally indicted with Kelly on charges that they created traffic jams near the bridge to punish the mayor of Fort Lee, New Jersey, for failing to endorse the governor’s re-election. “The governor’s statements have been clear”, Brian Murray said.
Renna, now vice president of the Chamber of Commerce Southern New Jersey, and Sheridan, who is working for the state Republican Party, also did not immediately respond.
Chris Christie has had himself an uneventful few months after many people, possibly including Christie himself, thought he was a strong vice presidential contender.
Renna agreed to a $500 fine in 2015 after acknowledging “the contents of some of the emails she sent to her family members contained information that was not generally available to members of the public”, according to a consent order from the New Jersey Ethics Commission.
“Contemporaneously, Ms. Renna had the following text exchange with Mr. Sheridan, ” the filing says.
“Yeah, I have absolutely no reason to believe that”, Christie said. “He just flat out lied about senior staff and [campaign manager Bill] Stepien not being involved”.
Weeks after it first erupted, Mr Christie apologised for the bridge fiasco, which had auto commuters tied up for hours trying to get to their offices in Manhattan as well as other drivers.
“She testified under oath before the Legislature in a manner not consistent with the existence and deletion of those texts”, lawyers wrote in the filing.
Governor, can you say with certainty that someone else didn’t, on your staff or in your administration, act on your behalf for the lane closures for political retribution?
Stepien’s lawyer, Kevin Marino, said that the government has been in possession of the test messages for years and has not charged Stepien.
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Renna may be called as a witness at Baroni and Kelly’s trial.
