Christie and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo are both on the US attorney’s witness list of more than 300 names, but not everyone on that list will be called to testify.
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The charges stemmed from their roles in the September 2013 toll lane shutdowns at the bridge – an incident that caused massive traffic problems in Fort Lee in what prosecutors called an act of political retribution targeting Mayor Mark Sokolich for his refusal to endorse Christie for re-election.
The New Jersey state Assembly has discussed drawing articles of impeachment against Christie over the scandal, but Democrats said it would be a waste of time, since Christie will be out of office soon. He said that those requests were made known so that the Governor’s Office could make the phone call to notify the town or agency that the request would be granted.
David Wildstein is testifying in the trial of two former allies of Christie. John Ma, chief of staff to Port Authority’s executive director, Patrick Foye leaves the Martin Luther King Jr. federal courthouse in Thursday, Sept. 22, 2016 in Newark, N.J. New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s former deputy. He also said that his then-boss Baroni often talked about the “one constituent rule”, referring to the governor as the only constituent they needed to serve.
Christie has denied knowing about the bridge scheme until well after it was carried out, and a taxpayer-funded report he commissioned absolved him of wrongdoing.
Some say the move was in response to the mayor of Fort Lee’s decision not to endorse Christie in the 2013 gubernatorial election.
Earlier in the day, Matt Mowers, a national field coordinator for Donald Trump’s presidential campaign, testified that in 2011 staffers in the governor’s office drew up a “Dem elected target hit list” of potential endorsements for the governor’s re-election campaign. The list included a rundown of favors, including steel from the World Trade Center and seats at sporting events in the governor’s box.
Wildstein was a high school classmate of Christie’s, but Christie has denied having a close relationship with him.
Kelly has said her emails were meant to be sarcastic. These spreadsheets also indicated whether the leaders were likely to endorse Christie’s reelection.
Christie didn’t comment on the allegation this week, but his office pointed to a statement he gave in 2014, denying he knew about the plot while it was ongoing. With Wildstein acting as their primary witness, his testimony is central to their case and will be critical in the potential sentencing of both Baroni and Kelly.
Christie’s former deputy chief of staff, Bridget Kelly, and former Port Authority of NY and New Jersey executive Bill Baroni are charged with closing access lanes to the George Washington Bridge to punish the mayor of Fort Lee for not endorsing Christie.
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That contradicted the official Port Authority news release sent the following day that said the agency was studying traffic safety issues at the bridge. “I wanted the reporter to ask follow-up questions and alert him to my belief that there was no traffic study”.
