A federal judge in New Jersey on Thursday quashed a subpoena seeking to obtain the phone filed by defendants William Baroni Jr. and Bridget Anne Kelly, who are accused of conspiring to close lanes to the George Washington Bridge to punish a mayor who didn’t support the governor’s re-election.
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On Friday, a spokesman for the governor confirmed a report by the New York Times that Christie’s personal lawyer, Christopher A. Wray of King & Spalding, has the phone.
They claim the phone is relevant because Christie and an aide exchanged texts during bridge officials’ testimony to a New Jersey legislative committee in late 2013. The legislative committee that was investigating the matter was unable to recover the text messages and concluded that they had been deleted. Their attorneys invoked the Watergate scandal to justify their subpoena of Christie’s cellphone records.
Bill Baroni and Bridget Kelly have subpoenaed the texts and other communications from Christie’s office as they defend themselves against federal charges they create traffic jams to punish a local Democratic mayor for not endorsing Christie.
The defense attorneys have accused Gibson Dunn of deliberately destroying interview notes and withholding relevant evidence, charges Mastro has called “scurrilous”, “defamatory” and evidence of a strategy that “reeks of desperation”.
The firm, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP, argued Kelly’s and Baroni’s subpoena was too broad. In a court filing this week, Gibson Dunn said the texts contained “nothing inherently damaging or suspect”. They’ve pleaded not guilty.
“If and when the governor gets in that box and testifies”, Baldassare said, indicating the witness stand, “that email may be” very important.
He noted that one of the firm’s investigators, Debra Wong Yang, is family friends with Christie and raised money for his unsuccessful presidential campaign.
“I am not comfortable with you, Mr. Mastro, making the determination of relevance”, Critchley said, referring to Gibson Dunn lead attorney Randy Mastro.
For his part, Mastro denounced the attacks on his investigation as “an attempt to turn this trial into a sideshow”.
The law firm contends it produced all materials required by the US attorney’s office’s subpoena, and argues Baroni’s and Kelly’s subpoena seeks additional materials far in excess of what the judge in the case authorized.
It’s not clear what records remain of Christie’s old cellphone.
While the ruling put to rest the status of Christie’s phone before the September trial, it leaves questions unanswered.
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Gibson Dunn said in a June 28 court filing it “returned the phone” without saying who has it. The firm said it hired a forensic firm that “copied and preserved the contents of all government-issued devices and e-mail accounts” belonging to Christie and his senior staff. For those who used personal devices or e-mail accounts – including Christie – “we ensured that the contents of these devices and accounts were preserved”, it said. “I haven’t seen the phone since, and I assume that’s where it still is”.
