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Christie lawyers’ report: Bridge traffic jam politically motivated, governor had no role Christie lawyers’ report: Bridge traffic jam politically motivated, governor had no role
(about 4 hours later)
Political motivations were at the heart of a plan by aides to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to close lanes on the George Washington Bridge and spark a massive traffic jam in the town of Fort Lee, according to a new internal report conducted by lawyers on behalf of Christie. Political motivations were at the heart of a plan by allies of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie to spark a mass traffic jam on the George Washington Bridge, according to an internal report conducted by lawyers on behalf of Christie.
The report also found that a top Christie ally, David Wildstein, said he personally informed Christie of the traffic jam while it was still underway – and that Christie said he had no recollection of the conversation. The report found that David Wildstein, a top Christie associate, said that he personally informed the governor of the lane closures that prompted the traffic problems in September while they were still underway, and that Christie said he had no recollection of the conversation.
The internal review,which generally cleared Christie of wrongdoing and found he had no advance knowledge of the lane closures, was greeted skeptically by critics. Lawyers leading the probe were hired by the governor’s office and key figures in the incident refused to take part. The internal review, which cleared Christie of wrongdoing by finding that he did not know about the lane closures before they occurred, was greeted skeptically by critics who said it was stacked in his favor. Private lawyers leading the investigation were hired by the governor’s office at a cost of $1 million to taxpayers. And key figures in the incident, including Wildstein and Bridget Anne Kelly, Christie’s former deputy chief of staff, declined to take part.
The episode is also under investigation by a federal prosecutor, and by state lawmakers, who have questioned whether Christie had personal knowledge of the traffic jam and its political origins. The lane closures also are under investigation by a federal prosecutor and by state lawmakers, who have questioned whether Christie knew about the traffic jam and its political origins.
The release of the 360-page internal review Thursday came as Christie, who is mulling a 2016 bid for the Republican presidential nomination, continued to try to stabilize his image, which has been battered since the bridge scandal. The release of the 360-page internal review Thursday came as Christie, a Republican who is mulling over a 2016 presidential bid, continued to try to stabilize his image, which has been battered since the scandal erupted in the fall after his reelection.
It erupted in the wake of Christie’s reelection romp last year, with critics seizing on the apparent act of political retribution against the Democratic mayor of Fort Lee as evidence of a culture of hardball politics on Christie’s team. Hours after the report was released, Christie sat for an interview with ABC’s Diane Sawyer in which he again pinned all of the blame on rogue underlings.
Christie is scheduled to sit for a network television interview tonight. “Sometimes people do inexplicably stupid things,” he said, adding later: “None of it made any sense to me. And to some extent still does not.”
The review found that the plan was hatched by Wildstein, a top Christie ally working for the Port Authority, and that Wildstein included only one member of the governor’s staff in the scheme, deputy chief of staff Bridget Anne Kelly. Christie defended the credibility of the investigators his office hired, saying, “They’re not going to whitewash anything for me.”
It was Kelly who wrote a previously released August 2013 e-mail to Wildstein indicating it was “time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee.” He responded, “got it.” New Jersey Democrats on Thursday dismissed the internal review. The lawmakers leading the legislative inquiry, Assemblyman John S. Wisniewski (D) and state Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg (D), cited “deficiencies that raise questions about a lack of objectivity and thoroughness.”
“What we found was that Gov. Christie had no involvement in the decision to close these lanes and no prior knowledge. Not a shred of evidence of it,” the attorney leading the review, Randy Mastro, told reporters Thursday. The lawyers behind the internal report spent two months conducting 70 interviews and reviewing 250,000 pages of documents. They questioned Christie and pored over his e-mails and text messages. They found that the bridge plan was hatched by Wildstein, who worked for the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and that Kelly was the only member of the governor’s staff in on it.
The report also cast doubt on allegations by the mayor of Hoboken, who has said top Christie aides tied her city’s receipt of Hurricane Sandy recovery funding to her support for a development project backed by Christie allies. It was Kelly who wrote a previously released e-mail to Wildstein in August indicating that it was “time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee.” He responded, “got it.”
It portrays the governor as both in the dark about Kelly’s and Wildstein’s actions and anxious to learn more about them when questions arose about the issue in the months after the closure. The internal inquiry found that Wildstein had long expressed interest in some kind of traffic study of the bridge’s toll lanes. But it concluded that there was evidence that Kelly and Wildstein engineered the closures at least in part “for some ulterior motive to target” Fort Lee’s Democratic mayor.
“The confessionals are open,” the report recounts that Christie told top staffers in December 2013, urging them to come forward if they had been involved with the bridge incident. Kelly did not do so, the report found. Randy Mastro, who led the investigation, said there was “not a shred of evidence” to show that Christie had prior knowledge of the decision to close the lanes.
“There are people whose reputations have been besmirched because of what Bridget Kelly did--and besmirched unfairly,” Mastro told reporters. Democrats have seized on the apparent targeting of Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich (D) as evidence of a culture of hardball politics on Christie’s team, regardless of whether the governor was aware of the scheme. And some Christie critics in recent months have stepped forward to offer what they say are additional examples of political retribution carried out by the governor’s office.
Lawyers for Wildstein and Kelly did not immediately respond to requests for comment. The internal report discounted such allegations — and defended Christie’s trademark style.
The revelation that Wildstein said he told Christie of the traffic jam at the time could contradict Christie’s public claim that he learned of the issue only after the lanes were reopened. “Frankness alone . . . does not equate to encouraging acts of political retaliation. And we found no evidence to support such a leap,” the investigators wrote.
According to the review, Wildstein told Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak over dinner in December that he had alerted Christie to a traffic study on the bridge while the traffic jam was still underway. Wildstein said the conversation occurred at a public event the two had attended in that timeframe. They also sought to cast doubt on one of the most prominent cases Christie critics cited apart from the bridge issue. The report concluded that claims from Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer (D) were “unsubstantiated” and, in some respects, “demonstrably false” when she alleged that Christie aides had threatened to withhold Hurricane Sandy relief funding if she didn’t support a development favored by Christie allies.
Zimmer, who declined to take part in the review, called the result a “one-sided whitewash.”
On the bridge incident, the report portrays the governor as having been in the dark about Kelly’s and Wildstein’s actions even as he sought to learn more about the lane closures.
“The confessionals are open,” the report recounts Christie telling top staff members in December 2013, urging them to come forward if they were involved. Kelly did not do so, the report found.
Attorneys for Wildstein and Kelly did not respond to requests for comment.
Wildstein’s account that he told Christie about the traffic jam at the time contradicts Christie’s claim that he learned of it only after the lanes were reopened.
According to the review, Wildstein told Christie press secretary Michael Drewniak over dinner in December that he had alerted Christie to a bridge traffic study while the lanes were still closed. Wildstein said the conversation occurred at a public event the two had attended in that time frame.
Drewniak said Wildstein did not indicate that he told Christie there were political motivations for the closures, merely that a study was underway.Drewniak said Wildstein did not indicate that he told Christie there were political motivations for the closures, merely that a study was underway.
Wildstein and Christie were together for a Sept. 11 memorial ceremony and the investigators conclude that is likely the event to which Wildstein referred. However, they said Christie has no memory of the conversation and, even if it had occurred, the governor would have had no reason to find information about a Port Authority traffic study notable. Wildstein and Christie were together for a Sept. 11 memorial ceremony and the investigators concluded that that probably was the event to which Wildstein was referring. However, they said, Christie has no memory of the conversation and, even if it had occurred, he would have had no reason to find the information notable.
Democrats have dismissed the internal review as incomplete and insufficient. Although Christie has indicated that he felt no animosity toward Sokolich that would have motivated an effort to use a traffic jam to punish him, the report concludes that Kelly and Wildstein were indeed upset with the mayor.
In a joint statement, New Jersey Assemblyman John Wisniewski and Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg, who are leading the legislative inquiry, said the review has “deficiencies that raise questions about a lack of objectivity and thoroughness.” The source of their displeasure remains cloudy, according to the review, which found little evidence that Sokolich was targeted because he had declined to endorse Christie’s reelection campaign, as has long been alleged.
“The people of New Jersey need a full accounting of what happened,” they said, promising to press ahead with their own investigation. Still, the report reveals that the day before she and Wildstein agreed that it was “time for some traffic problems,” Kelly had called another Christie official in an effort to reconfirm that Sokolich would not be endorsing Christie.
The report’s findings will also likely do little to silence critics who have said the incident shows Christie set a tone for his subordinates that allowed them to believe hard-ball tactics were acceptable.
Though Christie has indicated he held no animosity toward Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich that would have motivated an effort to use a traffic jam to punish him, the report concludes that Kelly and Wildstein were indeed upset with Sokolich and had arranged for the closure “at least in part, for some ulterior motive to target” him.
The source of their displeasure, however, remains cloudy, according to the review, which found there was little evidence Sokolich was targeted because he had refused to endorse Christie’s reelection campaign, as has long been alleged.
Still, the report reveals that the day before she and Wildstein agreed it was “time for some traffic problems,” Kelly had called another Christie official in an effort to reconfirm that Sokolich would not be endorsing Christie.
“Kelly responded, in sum or substance, that that was all she needed to know,” the report indicates.“Kelly responded, in sum or substance, that that was all she needed to know,” the report indicates.
Three days later, after learning an aide had met with the mayor, she reacted angrily. The private lawyers Christie hired recommended a series of changes to prevent similar incidents.
“I am on fire,” she wrote in an e-mail. “I am irate,” “[W]hy did he think it was ok to meet with Sokolich?,” and “He should not have met with Fort Lee without approval. I am really upset with him.” Three days later, after learning that an aide had met with the mayor, she reacted angrily. “I am on fire,” she wrote in an e-mail.
Later, on learning from her staff that Sokolich was extremely upset with the September lane closures and snarled traffic that resulted, she responded in an e-mail: “Good.” On learning from her staff that Sokolich was extremely upset with the lane closures, she responded in an e-mail, “Good.”
According to the review, Kelly grew panicked as questions emerged about the motivations for the lane closures December. “Do me a favor and get rid of that,” she told the subordinate to whom the e-mail had been directed. Instead, the aide saved a copy of the note. They said state employees should be restricted from using private e-mail accounts for public business. Kelly, Wildstein and others routinely used personal e-mail addresses, operating under the belief that their messages would not be subject to laws regarding public records.
To prevent similar incidents in the future, the investigators recommended that state employees be restricted from using private e-mail accounts for public business. Kelly, Wildstein and others routinely used personal e-mail addresses, operating under the belief that their writings would not be subject to public records laws. Robert Costa contributed to this report.
The investigators also suggested the creation of a ethics position in the governor’s office and eliminating the office Kelly had led, which was responsible for managing the governor’s political relations with local officials.