Key Bridgegate Witness Claims Christie Discussed A Cover-Up Plan With Cuomo

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) “discussed” a plan to “put an end” to questions about the burgeoning Bridgegate scandal less than a month after lane closures caused mass traffic jams on the New Jersey side of the George Washington Bridge, the mastermind behind the plot testified Tuesday.

David Wildstein, once Christie’s self-described “enforcer” at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and now the prosecution’s star witness in the Bridgegate case, said that the governors considered issuing a report that would stop further probes into the September 2013 lane closures, according to NorthJersey.com.

“My understanding was that Governor Christie and Governor Cuomo had discussed this” in October 2013, Wildstein testified, citing former Port Authority chairman David Samson as the source of his information. “My understanding at the time was that it would put an end to this issue.”

Wildstein also alleged that Cuomo told the Port Authority’s executive director, Patrick Foye, to “stand down” and refrain from publicly blaming the lane closures on Christie and his staffers pending his re-election later that fall, The New York Times reported.

Cuomo’s office stridently denied any involvement in a cover-up, telling the Wall Street Journal on Tuesday that Wildstein’s claims were “false and delusional” and that “the only role New York played in this episode was a positive one.”

“It was our executive director who blew the whistle and ordered the bridge reopened,” Cuomo’s office said in a statement. “To be clear, no such conversation between the governors happened, in fact no report of any kind was ever done, and whatever the admitted bridgegate [sic] architect thought or dreamt about New York’s involvement has no basis in fact.”

As late as Dec. 16, 2013, Cuomo had publicly backed Christie’s claim that the closures were part of a “traffic study” on the bridge, saying “I’m sure it is as Gov. Christie says it is.” Foye had testified days earlier that the Port Authority commissioned no such study.

The Wall Street Journal also previously reported that Christie had reached out to Cuomo in early December 2013 to complain about Foye’s aggressive investigation into the lane closures.

On Tuesday, Wildstein testified that a small group of Port Authority officials worked with top Christie staffers to compile a report on the traffic problems in the town of Fort Lee, according to NorthJersey.com. While the report was never issued, Wildstein said it later served as the foundation for former Port Authority executive Bill Baroni’s testimony before a state legislative committee in which he insisted the closures were part of a traffic study, the newspaper reported.

Wildstein, who struck a plea deal over his involvement in the Bridgegate scheme, has said that the traffic study story was just a cover-up and the lane closures were intended to exact retribution on Fort Lee’s Democratic mayor, who’d refused to back Christie’s re-election effort.

Baroni and Bridget Anne Kelly, a former deputy chief of staff for Christie, are facing federal fraud and corruption charges for their roles in the plot.

Christie has long denied any prior knowledge of his allies’ plan, although Wildstein testified last week that he told the New Jersey governor about the political motivation behind the lane closures at a 9/11 memorial event at Ground Zero while they were still underway.