Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani (R) on Sunday said that the New Jersey assembly’s investigation into the bridge scandal surrounding Gov. Chris Christie (R) is a “partisan witch hunt.”
Giuliani said that because Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D), who is leading the assembly’s investigation into the George Washington Bridge lane closures, should step down because he said last week that it was “unbelievable” that none of Christie’s aides told him about the plan.
“It would seem to me that the assemblyman has an ethical obligation to step down, to recuse himself. He’s no longer an impartial arbiter of the facts. He’s announced he doesn’t believe Governor Christie. I don’t even know how he could come to that conclusion,” Giuliani said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.” “Every fact seems to indicate that Governor Christie is telling the truth. Whether he is or he isn’t, that’s what the investigation is for.”
Giuliani said the investigation was an effort by Democrats to hurt Christie.
Assembly Democratic spokesman Tom Hester refuted Giuliani’s assertion that Wisniewski should not be leading the investigation in a Sunday statement.
“Rudy Giuliani quite simply has no idea what he’s talking about,” Hester said. “Chairman Wisniewski has been praised by Republicans for his work and Republicans unanimously voted with Democrats to continue the investigation into what happened with this threat to public safety and abuse of government power.”
Hester said that Wisniewski’s skepticism will serve him well throughout the investigation.
“Uninformed critics would do well to share the healthy dose of skepticism about the GWB lane closures that has already led to two resignations from the Port Authority and the removal of two top members of Gov. Christie’s organization,” he said. “Chairman Wisniewski and the committee will of course continue this bipartisan work to find the truth, a process that is serving the public very well.”
