The New Jersey lawmakers investigating the George Washington Bridge lane closures aren’t going away just yet.
The special committee investigating the scandal announced Tuesday that it had subpoenaed four people to testify before it in May. The list includes former Chris Christie aide Christina Genovese Renna, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Commissioner William “Pat” Schuber, Port Authority Executive Director Patrick Foye, and Christie press secretary Michael Drewniak.
“With these subpoenas for testimony, the joint committee is moving to a key stage of its investigation into how this abuse of government power and threat to public safety occurred,” committee co-chairs Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg (D) and Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D) said in a joint statement. “The people of New Jersey continue to deserve clear answers as to how this abuse was allowed to happen, and the four people we’ve called to testify can begin providing insight into the troubling environment that allowed something as concerning as these lane closings to happen.”
Earlier this month, the committee lost a court battle with two key figures in the lane closing scandal. A New Jersey judge ruled that former Christie deputy chief of staff Bridget Kelly and former Christie campaign manager Bill Stepien did not have to turn over documents in response to subpoenas from the committee. The ruling led to speculation that the state lawmakers’ investigation had hit a wall, and that it would have to make way for the federal investigation being conducted by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Jersey. Earlier this year, the committee had David Wildstein, the former Port Authority executive who orchestrated the lane closures, come in to testify. Wildstein invoked his Fifth Amendment rights, and refused to answer questions.
