Bridget Ann Kelly, texting, with Governor Chris Christie and Michelle Brown at Seaside Park fire, September 12, 2013. Photo credit: Phil Stilton, OCSignal.com
NEWARK — Two key figures in the Bridgegate scandal — Bill Baroni and Bridget Anne Kelly — were each indicted on nine counts, according to court documents unsealed Friday. Baroni, the former deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and Kelly, a former deputy chief of staff of Gov. Chris… Read the rest of this entry »
NEWARK — Former Port Authority executive David Wildstein has pleaded guilty for his role in the closure of local access lanes to the George Washington Bridge. He admitted conspiring with Bill Baroni and Bridget Anne Kelly to “punish” Fort Lee mayor Mark Sokolich for not endorsing Gov. Chris Christie in his re-election bid. Wildstein will be… Read the rest of this entry »
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…
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…
The former prosecutors that the Christie Administration hired to perform an internal investigation into the George Washington Bridge lane closures and allegations made by Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer that Lt. Governor Kim Guadagno told Zimmer that Sandy aid for Hoboken was contingent upon a development approval will release the findings of their investigation on Thursday morning at 11:30.
A New York Timesarticle about the report published on Sunday says it will address what and when Mr. Christie and his aides knew about the lane closings; analyze the structure, practices and culture of the Christie administration that contributed to the scandal; and issue pointed recommendations to prevent such conduct in the future.
Randy Mastro, a former Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York and a Deputy to former New York Mayor Rudy Guiliani, lead the team of lawyers from Gibson Dunn in conducting the investigation. Over 70 interviews were conducted and thousands of documents reviewed in the probe that cost New Jersey taxpayers over $1 million.
Three key players in the Bridgegate scandal, Christie former Deputy Chief of Staff Bridget Ann Kelly, Christie’s former political strategist Bill Stepien and David Wildstein, Christie’s former #2 at the Port Authority of NY/NJ, did not submit to interviews with Mastro’s team.
A joint legislative committee lead by Assemblyman John Wisniewski and Senator Loretta Weinberg continues to investigate the Bridgegate matters. U. S Attorney Paul Fishman’s office is also investigating.
Christie told NJ 101.5’s Eric Scott during his Ask the Governor radio show on Wednesday evening that if Mastro’s report implicates members of his staff, that punitive measures will be taken.
MMM will livestream Mastro’s press conference on Thursday at 11:30 AM
TRENTON — New e-mails released today by the legislative panel investigating the George Washington Bridge lane closings link Gov. Chris Christie’s chief political strategist, Mike DuHaime, to discussions about the scandal and show more intimate involvement…
Governor Chris Christie and former Deputy Chief of Staff Bridget Kelly at a happier time. Photo via facebook
Bridget Ann Kelly, Governor Chris Christie’s former Deputy Chief of Staff who sent the “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee” email to David Wildstein, then New Jersey’s #2 official at the Port Authority of NY/NJ, has invoked her fifth amendment rights and declined to produce the documents subpoenaed by the joint legislative committee investigating “Bridgegate,” the September lane closures at the George Washington Bridge, according to a report at NorthJersey.com.
Most people who are paying attention to ‘Bridgegate’ now realize that the letter from David Wildstein’s attorney, Alan Zegas, released to the press yesterday afternoon is not the smoking gun that many in the media have been hoping for that would put an end to Governor Chris Christie’s presidential ambitions or possibly lead to his resignation or impeachment.
The letter, part of a negotiation with Port Authority over Wildstein’s legal fees, is not evidence that Christie lied in his January 9, 2013 press conference. The letter raises many questions and answers few if any. Some of those questions could complicate Wildstein’s legal problems. Assemblyman John Wisniewski, the co-chair of the state legislative committee investigating Bridgegate, wants to know why Wildstein did not include the evidence referred to in the letter with all the other documents he provided to the Assembly Transportation Committee, including the now infamous email exchange between Wildstein and Bridget Ann Kelly that blew the Bridgegate story open on January 8.
If any of the news outlets that reported on the letter revealed who released it, I missed it.
The release of the letter reignited the media frenzy over Bridgegate just as Christie was generating non-scandal related publicity associated with the Super Bowl and Howard Stern’s birthday. That was obviously the intent of releasing the letter. By protecting the identity of the leaker, the media is complicit with that agenda.
By Salvador Rizzo and Mark Mueller Democratic lawmakers say they will “aggressively” press on with their investigation into the George Washington Bridge lane-closure scandal after Friday’s release of thousands of pages of documents showing key members…
