Two Former Chris Christie Aides Guilty of Conspiracy and Wire Fraud
A jury has just found former aides of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie guilty on all nine counts related to the September, 2013 lane closures on the George Washington Bridge. The charges against Bridget Anne Kelly and Bill Baroni include conspiracy and wire fraud.Â
Kelly had sent the now infamous email, “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee,†showing the lane closures were designed to punish the mayor of Fort Lee, a Democrat, who refused to endorse Chris Christie for re-election.
Sentencing will commence next week.
The lane closures began in early September, the first day of back-to-school, when traffic on the bridge would be especially high. Christie administration officials claimed it was a necessary traffic study, but that turned out to be false.Â
Last month during the trial Kelly’s lawyer suggested that Gov. Christie knew about the lane closures before they began.
“Christie has not been charged with any crimes, though the admitted mastermind of the plan, David Wildstein, testified under oath that he and Bill Baroni, the other defendant in the case, told the governor about the traffic problems that were being caused by the lane closures as they were occurring,” Politico reported in October.
Christie was Donald Trump’s top choice to be his vice presidential nominee, and some reports state Trump offered the job to the New Jersey Governor, but he later withdrew it saying his family would be furious.Â
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Image by JackGavin via Wikimedia and a CC license