William Baroni, the former Port Authority deputy executive director, and Bridget Anne Kelly, Christie’s former deputy chief of staff, were both charged a year ago with conspiracy and fraud, and are awaiting trial.
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Wigenton wrote that the names should be made public, citing a prior case brought by Christie when he was New Jersey’s US attorney in which it was ruled that public officials can not claim a right to privacy in regards to their performance of their duties. Another Port Authority official, David Wildstein, pleaded guilty for his role in the shutdown.
Fishman said in 2015 that Governor Christie would not be criminally charged in the events.
Since withdrawing from the presidential primaries, Christie has become one of Donald Trump’s key supporters and was chosen by the presumptive Republican nominee to lead his transition team if he’s elected.
Christie endorsed the NY real estate mogul two weeks after abandoning his own campaign in February.
Just how many people were involved in Bridge-Gate?
“There is very little that is private about the lane closures or the lives of the people allegedly connected to them”.
The existence of that list, which was first reported by NJ Advance Media in March after defense attorneys filed a motion seeking it, came into play in court papers filed today by defense attorneys acknowledging that the government had provided the identities of individuals “who were not unindicted co-conspirators, but whom the government believed were aware of the alleged criminal conspiracy charged in this case but did not join the conspiracy”.
In her decision, Wigenton said that while privacy for third parties was important in criminal cases, “this court is satisfied that the privacy interests of uncharged third parties are insufficiently compelling to outweigh the public’s right of access”.
Bruce Rosen, who represents the group of news organizations, argued that the list of unindicted co-conspirators should be made public immediately. Fishman’s office said it would comply with the order and release the names by noon Friday.
“This has been a matter of tremendous interest to the residents of New Jersey and countless others who rely on the George Washington Bridge”.
Wigenton is considering requests by Kelly and Baroni to dismiss the indictment on several grounds, including that prosecutors twisted the law to find a crime to fit the facts.
It is unclear when the U.S. Attorney’s Office would have to release the names, and whether the office plans to appeal the order.
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The cases are New Jersey Media Group v. U.S., 16-cv-267, U.S. District Court, District Court of New Jersey (Newark), and U.S. v. Baroni, 15-cr-00193, U.S. District Court, District of New Jersey (Newark).
