Bill Baroni, 44, and Bridget Anne Kelly, 44, are accused of creating gridlock in Fort Lee over five mornings in September 2013 by closing two out of three access lanes to the George Washington Bridge. Prosecutors have said the traffic jams were meant to punish the town’s Democratic mayor for not endorsing Christie’s re-election bid.
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The prosecutor, speaking for the United States attorney’s office, said that two of the alleged co-conspirators in the case, David Wildstein and Bill Baroni, had “bragged” to the governor about the lane closings at a memorial service for the September 11 terrorist attacks, on the third day of the closings, and that they had been done to “mess” with Mayor Mark Sokolich of Fort Lee, a Democrat, because he had declined entreaties to endorse the governor’s re-election.
He told jurors Wildstein was suspected of tapping phone lines at the Port Authority even after instigating the lane closures at the bridge, CBS2’s Christine Sloan reported.
Kelly was Christie’s deputy chief of staff at the time.
Chris Christie’s former top appointee at the Port Authority of NY and New Jersey, and his attorney Michael Baldassare, right, walk with an associate while arriving at Martin Luther King, .
Kelly was Christie’s deputy chief of staff. Baroni was an executive at the Port Authority of NY and New Jersey. He was Christie’s top appointee to the agency. But a spokesman for U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman said not everyone on the list may be called.
During often testy cross-examination Wednesday, defense attorneys tried to show Foye knew about the closures earlier than he said and waited a day to stop them so he could “swoop in and look like a hero”.
This week, Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich (SOCK’-uh-litch) testified Mowers sought his endorsement for several months leading up to the election.
Sokolich testified Tuesday he was showered with attention from Christie staffers before declining to endorse Christie’s re-election in late summer 2013.
One of the perks was a special tour of the still-under-construction 1 World Trade Center tower guided by Baroni. Bendul said when he upbraided Durando about the new traffic pattern that reduced three access lanes between Fort Lee and the bridge to one, Durando told him, “Have the mayor call Baroni”.
Fort Lee Police Chief Keith Bendul testified Tuesday at the federal trial of Bill Baroni and Bridget Kelly, two former allies of Republican Gov. Chris Christie.
Foye also testified that he heard later in 2013 that the Christie administration wanted him fired.
Sokolich also is expected to testify Tuesday.
Sokolich recounted Tuesday how he called and texted Baroni, Christie’s highest appointee to the agency that operates the bridge, on the first two days of the traffic jams but received no response.
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Durando “told me to meet him in the municipal lot, don’t come in the building or on to Port Authority property”, Bendul said. They’re charged with causing traffic jams near the George Washington Bridge in 2013. On a separate visit to the 9/11 memorial, Sokolich testified, he met David Wildstein, the former Port Authority official who pleaded guilty previous year in the scheme and will testify for the government.
