It showed up in court documents and was sent by Christina Renna. Chris Christie responds at the CNN Republican.
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The contention in a new court filing that a former aide to Gov. Chris Christie said the governor lied about his knowledge of his administration’s involvement in the George Washington Bridge lane closures isn’t a smoking gun, but it raises new questions about what Christie knew about the bridge lane closings and when.
The filing was made by lawyers for Bill Baroni, who was Christie’s top executive appointee at the Port Authority of NY and New Jersey, which operates the bridge.
“Are you listening? He just flat out lied about senior staff and (former deputy chief of staff Bill) Stepien not being involved”, Renna texted during Christie’s December 13, 2013 press conference. “Holding his own up there”.
“Yes. But he lied”, Renna said. “But he lied. And if emails are found with the subpoena or ccfg [Chris Christie for Governor] emails are uncovered in discovery if it comes to that it could be bad”.
Renna’s texts appear to suggest Stepien, Christie’s ex-campaign manager, was involved in the lane closings in some way – something his lawyer denied. “I absolutely dispute it”, Christie said Wednesday.
Christie disputed Renna’s assertion after a radio appearance in NY. “There’s nothing new to talk about”, Christie told the Associated Press, regarding the new texts.
In the filing, Baroni’s attorneys seek to throw out evidence they say amounts to a “potpourri of information cobbled together from an investigation that, in the end, could not locate a viable federal prosecution”, such as photographs of Baroni and others at a September 11 memorial service during the access lane shutdown on the Fort Lee side of the bridge. The governor pointed out that the text messages were submitted by a defense attorney, and didn’t come from a witness under oath.
Baroni, a former deputy executive director at the Port Authority, and Kelly, Christie’s former deputy chief of staff, face charges including wire fraud and civil rights violations for allegedly closing access lanes to the bridge in Fort Lee to punish that city’s Democratic mayor for not endorsing Christie’s re-election.
Former Port Authority official David Wildstein, a high school classmate of Christie’s, has pleaded guilty and will testify for the government.
Christie, who is advising GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, wasn’t charged in the lane-closing scandal and has denied knowing anything about it.
To date, three people have been indicted in the lane closure investigation.
“She was wrong”, Christie said.
A legislative probe discovered a smoking gun in one text message from Kelly to Wildstein that said, “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee”. “He stands by those statements completely and unequivocally”.
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“Oh, yeah, I’ve spoken to Mr. Stepien, who’s the person in charge of the campaign, and he has assured me the same thing”, Christie said during the news conference. The plaintiffs in the (George Washington Bridge) class action lawsuit sued every potential party they could identify and voluntarily dismissed their claims against Mr. Stepien. Emails released in 2014 showed that on August 13, 2013, Kelly wrote to Wildstein: “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee”.
