Report: Christie is U.S. Attorney’s target
MMM photo/Art Gallagher
U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman is leaning on former Port Authority officials David Samson, Bill Baroni and David Wildstein and Charles McKenna, Governor Chris Christie’s former Chief Counsel, to”filp” on Christie, according to a report published on Esquire today.
Esquire’s two anonymous sources “with intimate knowledge” of Fishman’s investigation into “Bridgegate” said that Samson, Baroni and Wildstein each face “near-certain” indictment.
Esquire says that Baroni and Wildstein have implicated Samson and that “if Sampson doesn’t give Fishman Christie, Sampson is toast.”
“The clearest, quickest road to Christie, both sources agree, runs through David Samson, a former Attorney General of New Jersey who’s 74 years old and reportedly suffers from Parkinson’s disease. So: Will Samson flip?
“They’ve got him cold,” says one source. “He got sloppy, arrogant, and greedy. Samson will want a deal. This way, he’d get one or two years. He’d have a future on the other side. He won’t want to die in jail.” “
The federal prosecutor’s investigation is focusing on charges of securities fraud, for Port Authority bonding to fund non-Port Authority projects, interference with interstate commerce for the George Washington Bridge lane closures last September, obstruction of justice for the cover up around the lane closures, and charges derived from Samson’s numerous conflicts regarding real estate deals his law firm was involved with while he served as Port Authority’s Chairman. The report says the stalled Rockefeller Group development in Hoboken made famous by Mayor Dawn Zimmer’s allegation that Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno delivered a Sandy funds for project approval quid-pro-quo demand to Zimmer on Christie’s behalf could result in charges of extortion under the federal Hobbs Act and charges of official misconduct and corruption being brought in New York by the Manhattan District Attorney.
Esquire said that Fishman’s timetable is unclear but quickening. The U.S. Attorney, an Obama appointee, wants the case completed prior to the end of the President’s term.
Matthew Reilly, Deputy Public Affairs Officer of the New Jersey U.S. Attorney’s Office declined to comment on the veracity of the Esquire article. “We never comment on an investigation while it’s ongoing,” Reilly said.
Neither Michael Drewniak nor Kevin Roberts from Christie’s office responded to an email for comment. They were unavailable when MMM called.
More from my site
Former Port Authority chairman Samson tries to head off ethics probe
Year in review: May 2015- PA chairman’s United flights add to the twists and turns of a wide-ranging investigation
Samson Loses Rockefeller Group’s Business
Analysis: U.S. Attorney’s Trail Shows Hoboken Charges More Serious
Bridgegate: Bill Baroni, Bridget Kelly indicted on 9 counts
U.S. Attorney issues new subpoenas in Christie investigation
Christie ally David Wildstein pleads guilty, says Bridgegate closures were retribution
Christie’s Internal Bridgegate Report To Be Released Thursday
David Samson, close confidant of Christie, pleads guilty in airline shakedown
What a waste of taxpayer money. The prosecutor should be working on the IRS investigation, which would have more value to America than an unlikely Chrstie conviction.
Separate investigations. IRS has been and will continue to be investigated…..”Bridgegate” is not a waste of money since its very likely that criminal activity occurred.
Please bob english do you have an objective bone in your entire body.
Or do you believe there was not a “smidgon” of corruption in the IRS scandal.
E mails got lost in this day and age? Really?
Oh and the President broke the Law when he did not inform Congress of the wonderful prisoner excange.
He refuses to enforce immigration laws. It is not his job to pick and choose which laws to enforce.
He announced that he will bypass Congress with his pen. (leads by exec order) He has outwardly abused the use of exec order and flaunts it.
OK, you want to investigate and extort information from a 74 year old man with parkinsons disease, then do it.
BUT…..
Do the same investigating on the Obama Administration.
If a Republican in the White House pulled the Garbage that Obama has the Liberal media would have called for his impeachment already
Obama’s actions are impeachable he has broken the Law it is a know fact..
This investigation thing works both ways……..
@Republican…speaking of being objective, what do all of your comments have to do with the original post or my post??? Not much from what I can see. If you have issue with mine, how about addressing those???
I said the IRS case will continue to be investigated (which is 100% true) and I might add that there is currently zero evidence tying anyone in the Obama Administration to any criminal wrong doing (never mind Obama himself) which is also 100% true. If you have any evidence of wrongdoing by anyone in the Obama Administration, please forward it to Rep. Issa whose committee has been investigating the IRS issue for several months (in addition to the other investigations of the IRS.)
Regarding the GWB closings, I’m not sure what is so controversial about my statement that in my opinion its likely that some actions by Christie appointees or members of his administration would be considered criminal. As an FYI, your 74 year old man with Parkinson’s disease was Chairman of the Port Authority up until 7 weeks ago. Age or illness do not shield anyone from persecution if they committed any wrongdoing.
As an fyi if you feel that Obama’s any of Obama’s actions rise to the level of impeachable acts, I would urge you to notify your representatives in DC.
Lastly I’ll state the obvious that whether its Bridgegate or the IRS, everyone is innocent until a judge/jury says otherwise.
Federal indictment from closing a few highway lanes for 4 days??? That must be why other countries are mocking us…
there is currently zero evidence tying anyone in the Obama Administration to any criminal wrong doing
Of course there is ZERO evidence, since it has been criminally destroyed. Not to mention people implicated are refusing to testify.
Bridgegate” is not a waste of money since its very likely that criminal activity occurred.
English, your words above, I invite you to do the same if you have any proof bring it to US Attorney Fishman.
The proof of Obama breaking
the law regarding informing Congress about Prisoner swap is documented and the Administration admitted it. This is an impeachable offense.
@Republican….Sounds like the US Attorney already has plenty of evidence on Bridgegate related matters and does not need my help.
FYI, I agree with you that Obama should have given Congressional leaders more notice then they did on the prisoner swap even if it was at the last minute. Note that the intent of the 30 day requirement was basically to address the wholesale release or transfer of very large numbers of prisoners (such as emptying out Guantanamo.) There were also some points made by the President on the signing statement of the bill…..at any rate I doubt that many would consider that an impeachable offense (since the objective was not leaving anyone behind) but if they did, they are welcome to pursue that avenue.
It never fails. Whenever there is mention of Bridgegate, someone has to go off topic and mention Benghazi, Operation Fast and Furious, IRS, etc.
There is already implications of wrongdoing in Bridgegate. Several of Christie’s appointees were either fired or resigned. So far, nothing leads to Christie; however, if any wrongdoing is linked to him, he should be hung by his testicles. So far, it has been shown that Bridgegate was an egregious flaunting and abuse of power by the government to hurt people.
Those that are (hopefully) indicted–need to have it shoved up their asses for what they did.
Hung by his testicles for closing 3 lanes on an 8 lane highway? Believe me, those people who were “hurt” would rather stay an extra half hour in traffic for 4 days than be audited by the IRS, lose their health insurance, or be killed by Mexican druglords
There was no need for the “traffic study.” All it did was interrupt lives; make kids late for school, delayed emergency response times, made people late for job interviews, and medical appointments.
I love when people call it a fake scandal. If it’s so fake, why did people get fired while others resigned, and a grand jury that’s about to hand down indictments.
[…] week, Esquire.com cited anonymous sources in reporting that four “Christie cronies” including Barnoni […]