Christie says former ally uses his name to get clearance for bridge closures

According to a Bloomberg report, New Jersey Governor Chris Christie might as well pointed his finger at his former ally, David Wildstein, when he told investigators that the former Port Authority of New York & New Jersey top official invoked the governor's office to get clearance for the lane closing at the George Washington Bridge. This revelation, and more were based on a throve of documents Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP had during the course of its internal probe on the birdge tie-ups as ordered by Christie.

According to the summaries of Christie's interviews, Wildstein purportedly told someone that he obtained permission from Christie's office to shut the lanes down from September 9 to 12. The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey is the official operator of the bridge, Bloomberg said.

"The governor recalled someone (though he does not recollect who), relaying that Wildstein had said something along the lines of, ‘I'm not stupid; I got this cleared by the front office,'" part of the 12-page summary of three Christie interviews read.

Aside from Christie, the documents also indicated that Gibson Dunn interviewed 74 other people in relation to the bridge lane closures.

Christie, whose political ambitions included a potential seat at the White House, also said during the interviews that he did not recall speaking to Wildstein or to William Baroni, his former top appointee at the Port Authority at a September 11 ceremony at the World Trade Center in New York. This statement was in direct opposition to the statement made by Michael Drewniak, who is Christie's press secretary.

"The governor has no specific recollection of conversations with them, other than light banter. Asked whether anyone raised the subject of traffic in Fort Lee prior to or at this event, the governor responded that he had no such recollection, and any such mention would not have been memorable (because traffic issues occur regularly)," a memo about the discussion read.

The documents were released in a response to a state legislative committee's request, who is currently also doing its own investigation about the lane closures, Bloomberg said.

Tags

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, George Washington Bridge scandal, Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP, The Port Authority of New York & New Jersey

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