Update: January 14, 2014, 12:53 PM
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R) and the former Port Authority of New York and New Jersey executive who ordered the lane closures on the George Washington Bridge in September were together on the third day of the closures, The Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday.
The former official, David Wildstein, was part of a delegation that welcomed the governor to the site of the the World Trade Center on Sept. 11 for a commemoration on the 12th anniversary of the attacks. The lane closures began on Sept. 9.
Also part of the delegation were Bill Baroni, another former executive at the Port Authority, and David Samson, the Port Authority chairman. Both Wildstein and Baroni announced their resignations from the Port Authority after Democrats in New Jersey began asking questions about possible political motives for the lane closures.
Photographs obtained by the Wall Street Journal show Christie standing next to Wildstein on Sept. 11.
As the Journal pointed out, Christie said at a press conference last week that he had not had contact with Wildstein “in a long time.”
“I have had no contact with David Wildstein in a long time, a long time, well before the election,” Christie said. “You know, I could probably count on one hand the number of conversations I’ve had with David since he worked at the Port Authority. I did not interact with David.”
A spokesperson for Christie on Tuesday released a statement to the Journal about the Sept. 11.
“Of course, Gov. Christie attended the Sept. 11 ceremony, as he has done every year since he took office,” spokesman Colin Reed said. “He had numerous interactions with public officials that morning, including representatives of the Port Authority. They were all there for one reason — to pay tribute to the heroes of 9/11.”
