Former Christie Ally Admits BridgeGate Was Revenge Plot Against Mayor

Charts with budget data hang on a wall, in background, as New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie addresses a gathering at a town hall meeting, Wednesday, March 4, 2015, in Fair Lawn, N.J. Christie spoke about his proposed bu... Charts with budget data hang on a wall, in background, as New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie addresses a gathering at a town hall meeting, Wednesday, March 4, 2015, in Fair Lawn, N.J. Christie spoke about his proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year, and also said that the state would have to raise taxes to afford paying a court-mandated amount into the pension system for public sector employees. (AP Photo/Mel Evans) MORE LESS

By Catherine Thompson

May 1, 2015 11:54 a.m.

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A former ally of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) admitted Friday that he directed lane closures on the George Washington Bridge to punish a local politician for refusing to endorse the governor’s 2013 re-election bid.

David Wildstein, a former Port Authority of New York and New Jersey executive appointed by Christie, pleaded guilty in U.S. District Court in Newark to two conspiracy counts, according to USA Today.

The former Port Authority official also admitted that the lane closures, which snarled traffic for days around the town of Fort Lee, New Jersey, were a plot to exact revenge against Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich, according to the Associated Press.

The New York Times reported that Christie’s former chief of staff, Bridget Anne Kelly, and another of the governor’s appointees at the Port Authority, Bill Baroni, also are expected to be indicted Friday.

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Catherine Thompson (@kt_thomps) Catherine Thompson is a senior editor for Talking Points Memo in New York City. She came to the site in 2013 and reported on national affairs. Previously, she worked as a research assistant to investigative reporter Wayne Barrett. She can be reached at catherine@talkingpointsmemo.com.

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sniffit says:

May 1, 2015

Hear that? That’s all the hot air being let out of Blimpy Soprano’s dreams of becoming POTUS…
meta says:

May 1, 2015

Buh, bye. Blubba.
littlegirlblue says:

May 1, 2015

The news just gets better

Even without legal damage, the bridge scandal has inflicted considerable political damage on Mr. Christie. He has fallen to his lowest approval levels in all the major New Jersey polls, and those same polls show that most constituents do not believe he is telling the truth about the lane closings. He has, however, seen a rise in the percentage of people who think he is a bully.

He has fallen in national polls, too, especially as Republicans such as Jeb Bush and Scott Walker have laid claim to some of the ideological ground, and the operatives and supporters, he had hoped to own. And his > presidential ambitions appear to be on hold because of the investigation; as it has dragged on, he has pushed off the dates when he said he would announce his plans on seeking the presidency. (He now says May or June.)
chelsea530 says:

May 1, 2015

I heard the BAM! all the way here in Michigan.
kahner says:

May 1, 2015

So I’ve read that the 1pm press conference will announce indictments against Kelly and Baroni, but does that mean there definitely won’t be an indictment today against Christie?

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