One of Donald Trump’s “Best people,” Chris Christie, allowed his top aides to bite the bullet Friday, as the news broke that Bridget Ann Kelly and Bill Baroni were both found guilty in orchestrating lanes closure on the George Washington Bridge in 2013.
Bridget Anne Kelly, the former deputy chief of staff to Christie, and Bill Baroni, the former deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, both faced seven counts of various charges including conspiracy, fraud, and civil rights deprivation.
The verdict is a major setback in Christie’s political career, following a controversy that spans nearly three years and put a significant dent in the Garden State Republican’s presidential ambitions. Christie is heading planning for Republican nominee Donald Trump’s transition if he wins the presidency.
Christie has also functioned as a high profile surrogate for Trump, and was included on a schedule of campaign stops in New Hampshire this weekend put out by the organization.
Gov. Chris Christie's former Deputy Chief of Staff Bridget Anne Kelly, center, leaves Martin Luther King Jr. Courthouse after a hearing, Wednesday, Oct. 19, 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 New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, Kelly and Bill Baroni, Christie's former top appointee at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, are being tried on charges of politically motivated lane closures of the George Washington Bridge in 2013. (AP Photo/Mel Evans)
Somebody is lying. New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has maintained that he knew nothing of the lane closures on the George Washington Bridge, lane closures carried out by his closest administration officials. But testimony after testimony cast more and more doubt on Christie’s claim.
In bombshell testimony Friday, Bridget Anne Kelly said that she told New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) that access lanes to the George Washington Bridge would be closed for a traffic study a month before the plan actually was carried out in September 2013.
The former deputy chief of staff testified that the governor approved the study, which prosecutors allege actually was cover-up for a revenge plot against a local Democratic mayor.
Christie has long maintained that he knew nothing about the lane closures that brought traffic in the town of Fort Lee, New Jersey to a days-long standstill until he read about them in the press in late September or early October 2013. Yet Kelly and other former Christie allies have contradicted what Christie’s said about what he knew of the lane closures and when throughout the federal trial investigating the so-called Bridgegate scheme.
Telling her version of the saga for the first time from the witness stand Friday, Kelly testified that former Port Authority official David Wildstein informed her on Aug. 12, 2013 that he was moving forward with a traffic study that he said would create major traffic problems in Fort Lee, according to WABC. Kelly testified she then informed Christie about the study, and alleged he said he was alright with it.
“He said, ‘All right.’ He didn’t really react. He said that’s fine. He said, ‘How is the relationship with Mayor Sokolich’ of Fort Lee?” Kelly testified, according to Philly.com. “And I didn’t know. I really didn’t know.”
The next day she sent the email that would cast a shadow over Christie’s administration for years to come: “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee,” she wrote to Wildstein.
Don’t you just love politics and politicians? Here’s a group of people who seemingly do not ever consider that what they say about their opponents will even happen to them. And yet…
This week’s ridiculousness comes, not surprisingly, from the Trump-Christie branch of what used to be one of America’s great political parties; the GOP. These days it’s difficult to see how they were able to elect George W. Bush, much less get through a week without one of their candidates self-destructing.
The once-and-never-again national candidate, Governor Chris Christie of New Jersey is on even thinner ice (consider that image) concerning the traffic jam at the George Washington Bridge that not only killed his presidential chances, but is also resulting in crater-like approval numbers across the state. Now we have some evidence that Christie “flat-out lied” when he said that his political team knew nothing of the bridge closure. He’s denying it of course, and I can’t see that this would lead his leash holder, Donald Trump, to dump him as his transition boss since at this point it looks like Trump’s transition might be to a different floor on Trump Tower, as opposed to a move-in at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
The bigger issue, though, is that it was a during Christie’s speech at the Republican Convention that the crowd chanted that Hillary Clinton should be locked up for, well, unspecified crimes against, um, someone. Now Christie has leapt the queue and is looking more likely to be the one facing an actual indictment. Not that I expect one, but still. Christie has no one to blame but himself after endorsing Trump and tying his political future to a man who, at best, will lose the presidency for himself and the Senate for his party. Christie’s fall is a monumental one, and after November he will be the lamest duck in the land as the Democrats jostle to pick someone to replace him.
In the meantime, the road projects are still stalled, NJ Transit still has one train track in and out of Manhattan, the public employee pension system is still massively underfunded, property taxes are sky high, and social services are lagging. Yet Christie still finds time to campaign for a candidate who accused Christie of knowing about the bridge closure and who Christie hopes will save him from a life of retired bliss in…Mendham. A nice town, to be sure, but certainly not where Chris thought he should be.
Donald Trump resorted back to 3rd grade campaigning tonight when he went after Chris Christie because, according to Trump, Christie “hit me hard today!”
At a stump speech in South Carolina, Trump went into attack mode and focused in on New Jersey governor, Chris Christie. Earlier in the day, Christie spoke out against Trump’s call for a “total and complete shutdown” of Muslims entering the United States.
In his stump speech, Trump took the opportunity to lash out against Christie, pointing out the crowd that Christie knew about the bridge closure, because he had breakfast with the people who shut down the bridge everyday. Trump also hit Christie on the fact that under his governorship, New Jersey saw 9 downgrades in its ratings, and lastly, Trump hit Christie for being close to President Obama during the President’s hurricane Sandy visit to New Jersey.
When Peter Griffin from Family Guy comes after you, you know its officially over.
Family Guy’ is now taking on Chris Christie and his BridgeGate scandal.
In a flyer sent to Emmy voters, the star of the popular cartoon is seen holding a couple of traffic cones – a scene taken directly from Christie’s press conference when he awkwardly joked that he was the one putting down the cones for the lane closure at the George Washington Bridge.
A warning was issued in the flyer – “Vote for us, or it’s time for some traffic problems in Brentwood,” a Los Angeles neighborhood where many Emmy voters live.
Family Guy is nominated in the Best Animated Program category.
The investigation was done by his own people. They found nothing wrong and that’s their final answer.
With his office suddenly engulfed in scandal over lane closings at the George Washington Bridge, Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey two months ago summoned a pair of top defense lawyers from an elite law firm to the State House and asked them to undertake an extensive review of what had gone wrong.
Now, after 70 interviews and at least $1 million in legal fees to be paid by state taxpayers, that review is set to be released, and according to people with firsthand knowledge of the inquiry, it has uncovered no evidence that the governor was involved in the plotting or directing of the lane closings.
The review is the first of multiple inquiries into a scandal that has jeopardized Mr. Christie’s political future. It will be viewed with intense skepticism, not only because it was commissioned by the governor but also because the firm conducting it, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher, has close ties to the Christie administration and the firm’s lawyers were unable to interview three principal players in the shutdowns, including Bridget Anne Kelly, the governor’s former deputy chief of staff.
Sounds like Christie’s folks are engaging in, can you say… intimidation?
Amid mounting criticism that their tactics violated civil liberties, the state attorney general today ordered the State Police to stop taking pictures of protesters at Gov. Chris Christie’s town hall meetings — for any reason.
The order came a day after a man who identified himself as a member of the State Police photographed people who disrupted one of the governor’s usually highly orchestrated events.
In a statement issued to The Star-Ledger, acting Attorney General John Hoffman said he and State Police Superintendent Col. Rick Fuentes had “instructed the State Police to no longer photograph at these events for security or any other purposes.”
Christie plans to hold another town hall meeting Thursday in Flemington.
In calling for a halt to the practice, Hoffman said: “The State Police is responsible for the safety and security of the governor and the public at town hall meetings. In doing so, the State Police are careful to guarantee that First Amendment rights are respected and the public — whether expressing positive or negative sentiments toward the governor and his policies — have ample opportunity to make their positions known.”
More document revelation – Kevin Roberts, a spokesman for Christie’s campaign, wrote to campaign manager Bill Stepien: “Coordinating with Drewniak on this, but heads up. I’ll let you know when I hear back from him on the conversations on his side of things.”
Michael Drewniak is Christie’s chief spokesman. In a reply two minutes later, Stepien wrote, “Awesome.”
Stepien asked in another message sent later that day, “Who is writing the follow-up story on Fort Lee?”
In a text message that evening to Port Authority Deputy Executive Director Bill Baroni, another Christie appointee, the documents show that Stepien wrote, “WSJ writing a follow-up on the Fort Lee issue. You probably know but wanted to make sure.”
In a subsequent text, Stepien praised Baroni for the explanation he gave that the lane closures were part of a traffic study, which has since been called into question.
According to the brief, Stepien wrote, “Hey great job yesterday. I know it’s not a fun topic, and not nearly as fun as beating up on Frank Lautenberg, but you did great and I wanted to thank you.”
Last week, Bryan Fischer said that pleading the Fifth was a sure sign of guilt. Of course he wasn’t talking about the participants in Chris Christie’s BridgeGate scandal, because those people are on his side of the political isle.
Well now it seems that pleading the Fifth and refusing to turn over subpoenaed documents are not enough. The main characters in the BridgeGate scandal now want a judge to legalize their decision.
Two figures in a political payback plot that has overshadowed New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s administration will attempt to convince a judge that they shouldn’t be forced to turn over documents to a legislative panel.
Lawyers for former Christie campaign manager Bill Stepien and fired Deputy Chief of Staff Bridget Kelly have asked the judge to throw out their subpoenas.They say handing over personal emails, text messages and planning calendars would be like testifying against themselves.
They also cite the possibility of criminal prosecution as a legal basis for not complying with a request for correspondence involving a plot to create traffic jams near the George Washington Bridge.
More than a dozen individuals and organizations close to Christie have complied with similar subpoenas.
Forget about rain, snow, sleet, freezing rain or any other objects that might be falling down over the next few days in New Jersey. The real forecast is that the sky is falling on Governor Chris Christie and he has little time, and no room for error, if he wants to regain his reputation as a bully leader anytime soon.
The problem isn’t that he’s an able politician, because he is whether you disagree with him or not, or that he can get the Democrats to sign on to what will be his signature accomplishment, which was to raid public employees’ pockets and blame them for the recession enact a pension and benefits bill that made public employees pay more for their pensions and benefits (discovered the strike through key, didn’t I? OK, I’ll stop).
No, the problem with Chris Christie is that his style finally caught up to him. He is a big guy with a big personality who doesn’t suffer people whom he considers fools very patiently. Now his main personal strategy has him gasping for clean political air, which is usually in short supply in this state, and it’s choking him.
The latest example is a memo the Governor’s Office released in response to former Port Authority official and main player in the GW Bridge traffic scandal, David Wildstein, who said that he had evidence, still unreleased, that shows Christie knowing about the lane closings as they happened. That contrasts with what the governor told the public at his two hour news conference after the scandal broke.
Now, I understand that both parties play the blame game and the strategy has always been that if you’re accused of something to deny it, either truthfully or to stonewall and hope the investigation shows nothing, and to attack your opponents. This memo, though, is officially in the Hall of Fame for its vacuous and lame attempt at slurring Wildstein. From the article:
The memo listed five incidents as evidence, saying that “as a 16-year-old kid,” Mr. Wildstein had sued over a school board election; that he had been “publicly accused by his high school social studies teacher of deceptive behavior”; that he had a controversial tenure as mayor of Livingston, N.J.; that he had been an anonymous blogger; and that he “had a strange habit of registering web addresses for other people’s names without telling them.”
I’m assuming that you’ve stopped laughing.
Suing over a school board election? Doesn’t that qualify you to be in the He-Man Government Hater’s Club? What about being accused of deceptive behavior in social studies class? As a social studies teacher, I now have ultimate political power over most of the approximately 2,500 students who have sat in my classes over the years. Can’t wait for some of them to run for office. Controversial politician? Like you, Governor? Anonymous blogger? Not anymore.
In sum, the governor has bupkis on this guy. If he did, he would have released it weeks ago and would have gone on the offensive as he did in most other cases. If he wanted to play hardball, he would have offered to pay Wildstein’s legal fees so he could defend himself without having to out Christie with what they both know is true. Firing Wildstein, and former Christie aide Bridget Anne Kelly, has now opened the governor to all kinds of problems, because those people are now trying to save their lives. Some of what they say will be wrong, but much of it will be true. And Christie knows that.
The Bridge is not the only problem the governor has because there are reports that he didn’t implement the reconstruction aid program from Sandy until a full 10 months after the money was delivered to NJ. My sense is that this is going to be a bigger problem than lane closures. That was done for political payback; stalling aid to people whose houses were now in the Atlantic is far worse.
And pundits said the President had a rough fifth year. Christie’s win in 2013 will be his final election victory.
Chris Christie’s political future looks to be in serious danger with more Americans believing the embattled New Jersey governor is lying about the bridge closure scandal than telling the truth, according to the latest NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll. Christie’s overall standing has taken a major hit in the survey, with just 22 percent of Americans viewing the Republican New Jersey governor favorably — down from 33 percent in October.
Twenty-nine percent now view Christie unfavorably, versus 17 percent a few months ago.
NBC News and our partners at NowThisNews break down the main facts surrounding the Chris Christie bridge controversy.
Christie has denied ordering or knowing anything about the traffic jam-inducing George Washington Bridge lane closures, but 44 percent believe that Christie mostly is not telling the truth. By comparison, 42 percent say he’s mostly telling the truth.
That’s a significant shift from an NBC/Marist poll taken earlier this month, when 44 percent of respondents said he was mostly telling the truth (compared to 33 percent who said he wasn’t).
The governor is also dealing with a second allegation – that his administration threatened to hold up Hurricane Sandy relief aid to Hoboken unless the Democratic mayor supported a private development project.
Christie, who was recently considered a front-runner for the 2016 presidential nomination, has a lot of work to do to make up ground if he decides to run.
In the post-Bridgegate world, charges of Gov. Chris Christie’s political bullying have gained more credibility. It’s like when one woman accuses a public figure of sexual harassment, inspiring several others to come forward too.
In the wake of the revelations that Christie’s allies toyed with traffic at the George Washington Bridge, apparently to punish a mayor who failed to endorse him, we heard new allegations from Dawn Zimmer — the Hoboken mayor who says his officials threatened to withhold Sandy aid unless she supported his favored real estate project.
And now, we are reminded of the accusations of Ben Barlyn, a former Hunterdon County prosecutor who says he was fired because he refused to drop a case against a Christie ally. For the past year, he’s been striving to prove his story, paying through the nose for a civil lawsuit against the state while telling it to anyone who will listen.
Barlyn says that after he secured an indictment in 2010 against Hunterdon County Sheriff Deborah Trout, a Republican with political ties to Christie, he was fired and the case hastily killed by Christie’s appointed attorney general at the time, Paula Dow. The real story isn’t the mundane crimes that were alleged: hiring without proper background checks, making employees sign loyalty oaths, threatening critics and producing fake police badges for a prominent Christie donor. It’s the possible abuse of power by the administration’s head prosecutor.
Barlyn is now trying to compel the state Attorney General’s Office to release the grand jury transcripts to prove his case had legs.
He’s not the only one who says so: Four grand jurors and other dismissed prosecutors have come forward to agree. A judge even ordered the release of the transcripts — yet still, the state is refusing to comply. It has filed a torrent of briefs in an effort to suppress the grand jury record, and will continue this fight at a hearing Tuesday.
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