Bill Baroni, left, New Jersey Gov. 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, Jr., Federal Court for a hearing, Tuesday, Sept. 20, 2016, in Newark, N.J. Three years after gridlock paralyzed a New Jersey town next to the George Washington Bridge for days, two former allies of Christie, Baroni and Bridget Kelly, are being tried. Christie wasn’t charged in the case, although the trial may shed light on what he knew and when he knew it. Wildstein is a one-time political blogger who went by the moniker Wally Edge (named for a former New Jersey governor) and was hired, with Christie’s approval, to the newly created job of director of interstate capital projects at the Port Authority. Many were disappointed that the blue-state Republican governor didn’t run for president in 2012, and he reportedly made Mitt Romney’s vice presidential shortlist that year.
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The prosecutor’s suggestion that Christie himself had direct knowledge of the bridge’s closure and the political motivations behind it represents the first time the governor has been formally accused of knowing about the scandal as it unfolded.
He told CNN host of “State of the Union” Jake Tapper on Sunday that he would testify if subpoenaed, but didn’t expect to be called as a witness.
Chris Christie, shown here during his Republican National Convention speech, is an adviser to Donald Trump’s presidential campaign.
“We’ve all dealt with the frustration of the Port Authority not being operated with for the correct reasons, but to hear it discussed in open court by the two defense attorneys talking about how the Port Authority is truly a patronage pit, a wasteful operation, really underscores the work that the Senator and I have been doing to try to reform it, which is how this whole investigation started out”, Wisniewski said.
Christie’s former deputy chief of staff, Bridget Anne Kelly, and former Port Authority deputy executive director Bill Baroni have pleaded not guilty to conspiracy and fraud charges in connection to the lane closures, an incident that has come to be known by some as “Bridgegate”.
“The evidence will show that Baroni and Wildstein were so committed to their plan that, during the precious moments they had alone with the governor, they bragged about the fact that there were traffic problems in Fort Lee and that Mayor Sokolich was not getting his calls returned”, [Assistant U.S. Attorney Vikas] Khanna told jurors during his opening remarks Monday morning.
When Baroni heard about a public safety concern, though, he did inquire and was told “it had been handled”, his lawyer said. “Not only was that conduct vindictive and mean-spirited, it was criminal”.
“David Wildstein should be, based on this evidence, looked at like a ventriloquist’s doll sitting on Christopher J Christie’s lap”, said Michael Baldassare, Baroni’s attorney “Christie was David Wildstein’s world”.
Baldassare even compared Wildstein to actor Harvey Keitel’s character “The Wolf”, who was called in to clean up bloody messes, in the flick “Pulp Fiction”. “Events don’t happen in a vacuum”.
“The governor used to joke that David Wildstein was his Mr. Wolf from the movie ‘Pulp Fiction, ‘ the guy who comes and cleans up the bodies”, Baldasarre said. Wildstein had been the recipient of Kelly’s email and replied, “Got it”.
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Sokolich tried frantically to reach Baroni and anyone in Christie’s office for an explanation of why the traffic debacle had befallen his borough. Mark Sokolich, the Democratic mayor of Fort Lee, was among the politicians who didn’t support the incumbent governor. Two months after the closures, Baroni told a legislative hearing the realignment was part of a traffic study.
