One of the state lawmakers leading the George Washington Bridge scandal investigation said Sunday that she and her fellow lawmakers would be “happy” to have Gov. Chris Christie (R ) testify under oath.
State Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D) made the comments Sunday during an appearance on NBC’s “Meet The Press.” She was responding to a report commissioned by the Christie’s office and released last week that cleared the governor of any participation in or knowledge of the plan close access lanes to the bridge in September.
The lane closures caused a massive traffic jam in Fort Lee, N.J. Democrats have criticized the report as a whitewash, and Weinberg stayed on that line. She suggested it was inconclusive, and criticized it for “gratuitous, sexist language” directed at the former Christie aide who has been closely tied to the lane closures. She also said the investigative committee she is co-chairing would like to see the transcripts of the interviews conducted by the legal team that put together the report.
“Anybody who put their name on that report should be ashamed of themselves,” Weinberg said.
Host Chuck Todd asked Weinberg: “If Governor Christie said tomorrow he’d come before your committee, go under oath, and this is the — and this is the evidence and there’s no other evidence to prove that he knew anything, would that satisfy you?”
Weinberg said that it would, so Todd pushed further, asking if she would say the investigation would then be “over.”
“Well, it would depend upon what we hear from the governor, and if that leads us any place else,” Weinberg said. “But personally, speaking for myself as — as the co-chair of the committee … as one member, if the governor came before us under oath with all of the documents and all of these transcripts, I think everybody on the committee would be happy.”
Earlier this year, the committee investigating the lane closures subpoenaed numerous members of Christie’s staff, as well as his re-election campaign and his office — but not Christie individually.
