A new report just released states that a top Port Authority official told New Jersey governor Chris Christie of the lane closures on the George Washington Bridge while it was going on.
David Wildstein, one of the first public officials to be implicated in the scandal that snarled traffic for days on the nation’s busiest bridge that runs between New York City and New Jersey, says he personally told Governor Christie about the lane closings on September 11, according to the New York Times.
The Times notes that Wildstein also “told Mr. Christie’s press secretary of the Sept 11 conversation at a dinner in December just before his resignation from the Port Authority, according to the report.”
The report said that Mr. Christie did not recall any such conversation and finds no evidence that he was involved in the scheme, which snarled traffic for thousands of commuters in Fort Lee, N.J., from Sept. 9 through the morning of Sept. 12.
The report puts much of the blame for the closings on Bridget Anne Kelly, who was Mr. Christie’s deputy chief of staff until he fired her in January, and on Mr. Wildstein, a longtime Christie ally.
At one point, according to the report, Ms. Kelly directed an assistant in the governor’s office to delete an email in which Ms. Kelly had expressed pleasure at learning that the mayor of Fort Lee was angry about the closings. “Get rid of that,†she said, according to the report. (The aide complied, but saved a copy.)
Many may find the report insufficient, as it was prepared by Christie’s lawyers. It was paid for by New Jersey’s taxpayers.
Â
Previously:
A Teacher Responds To Chris Christie’s Finger In Her Face
‘Outraged’ Chris Christie Claims Bridgegate Is ‘Not Representative Of Me.’ Really?
Chris Christie: If I Had A Gay Child I’d Tell Them Marriage Is ‘One Man And One Woman’
Â