According to a report by CBS News, the law firm that exonerated Republican New Jersey Governor Chris Christie from the lane closures at the George Washington Bridge was found to have made a sizeable donation to a political group the public official himself leads. The $10,000 donation Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher has made to the Republican Governors Association (RGA) was made none days ahead of the firm's release of the internal review it had conducted on the circumstances behind the bridge closures, which led to a massive, four-day traffic in Fort Lee.
The news outlet said Gibson Dunn was tapped by Christie to conduct an internal investigation to prove that he has no call or involvement in the decision to close the access lanes. The review points to his staff as the masterminds of the closures and cleared Christie of wrongdoing.
Citing a report by the Bergen Record on Wednesday, CBS News said that the RGA received the donation on March 18 and has links to Gibson Dunn beyond the $10,000 donation. The newspaper claims that the California office of the law firm make contributions to the group on a regular basis, and that a partner currently sits on a leadership committee of the political group. However, the paper clarified that the California unit of Gibson Dunn did not make any donations to the Democratic Governors Association since 2012.
CBS News said the issue came up a day after Christie expressed his support to the idea that donors are allowed to provide an unlimited amount of campaign money to candidates as long as it is publicly reported, and the report is done in a timely matter.
He said at a town hall meeting, "So if somebody wants to write me a $100,000 check for my campaign, great. But 48 hours later, everybody who has the Internet will know that Mr. Smith gave me a $100,000 check."
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