Christie’s Bridgegate legal tab climbs to $8 million

Bridget Ann Kelly, texting, with Governor Chris Christie and Michelle Brown at Seaside Park fire, September 12, 2013. Photo by Phil Stilton

TRENTON — Taxpayers have picked up an $8 million tab for the private law firm hired by Gov. Chris Christie in the wake of the Bridgegate scandal, according the latest billing vouchers through August. Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher billed the state $53,824 in May, $27,930 in June, $67,706 in July and $52,925 in August, according to… Read the rest of this entry »

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Thompson: Bridgegate Indictments Will Be Cover Up Related

Brian Thompson, the WNBC 4-NY reporter who broke the story of potential indictments in the George Washington Bridge lane closure scandals coming next month, told MSNBC’s Steve Kornacki this morning that the likely federal charges will be related to a coordinated effort to cover up.

“This is what ties it all together as a single unified prosecution, ” Thompson said, “that is they are all involved in this, they all have a finger print or more, somewhere in this, which is, what our sources are saying, all wraps up into a conspiracy to cover up.”

Thompson said that the alleged cover up started “that week of the shut downs” not a month or two months later.  Thompson reiterated that the cover up began on the same week that the lane closures occurred.

Thompson said that at least two of the principals have made a deal, are singing, or are trying to make a deal, with the U.S. Attorney.

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Dems’ Christie Probe Comes Up Empty

The Joint Legislative Committee led by Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D-Middlesex) and Senator Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen) have produced an ‘interim” report that has found no evidence that Governor Chris Christie had any prior knowledge of the George Washington Bridge lane closures in September of 2013.

The report, which was made available to members of the committee yesterday and is scheduled to be made public on Monday, was reviewed by NJ.com who first reported on its contents.

“At present, there is no conclusive evidence as to whether Governor Chris Christie was or was not aware of the lane closures either in advance of their implementation or contemporaneously as they were occurring,” the report states. “Nor is there conclusive evidence as to whether Governor Christie did or did not have involvement in implementing or directing the lane closures.”

As has been widely reported since the “Bridgegate” story broke last January, the report indicates that Christie’s Deputy Chief of Staff Bridget Ann Kelly and Port Authority staffer David Wildstein ordered the lane closures.  The Wisniewski/Weinberg investigation has not discovered why Kelly emailed Wildstein in August of 2013 “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee.”  It has been widely speculated that the lane closures were political retribution aimed at Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich for failing to endorse Christie’s reelection.  The report repeats the speculation.

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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.”

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Bridgegate’s 30 Pivotal Hours: How Kevin O’Dowd Missed The Signs

Bridgegate’s 30 Pivotal Hours: How Kevin O’Dowd Missed The Signs (via NJSpotlight)

Kevin O’Dowd, Christie’s chief of staff, entered Drumthwacket, the governor’s mansion in Princeton, as usual by the side entrance, filing through the kitchen and the dining room, where he was surprised to see Gov. Chris Christie sitting huddled…

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Judge Tosses Out Subpoenas in GWB Investigation

Judge Tosses Out Subpoenas in GWB Investigation (via NJTV News with Mike Schneider)

A big development today in the bridge scandal investigation. A judge sided with two major figures in the case, tossing out the subpoenas against Bridget Kelly and Bill Stepien and ruling against the select oversight committee that issued them. The committee…

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