TRENTON, N.J. (AP) — New Jersey lawmakers probing politically motivated traffic jams near the George Washington Bridge last year have found no evidence that Gov. Chris Christie was involved in the scheme.
Investigators found no conclusive evidence whether Christie was aware or not of the closures last year, but they say that two former Christie aides acted with “perceived impunity” and with little regard for public safety when they ordered the lanes closed, according to a 136-page interim report by a joint legislative panel that was obtained by news organizations Thursday night.
A report commissioned by Christie previously cleared him of any wrongdoing and a lawyer for the governor said in a statement Thursday that the report corroborates that investigation.
“The Committee has finally acknowledged what we reported nine months ago — namely, that there is not a shred of evidence Governor Christie knew anything about the GWB lane realignment beforehand or that any current member of his staff was involved in that decision,” Christie attorney Randy Mastro said in a statement.
The report said that several critical witnesses have not testified and that important questions remain unanswered. The report will be supplemented if more information is obtained.
The report says that former Christie aides Bridget Anne Kelly and David Wildstein acted with “perceived impunity” and that they acted with little regard for public safety. It says that the Christie administration responded “very slowly and passively” to the lane closures.
Documents released earlier this year showed that Wildstein, then an official at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and Kelly, then an aide to Christie, orchestrated the shutdown, apparently as retribution toward Fort Lee’s Democratic mayor. In one email, Kelly told Wildstein, “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee.”
Wildstein later contended that Christie knew about the lane closures as they happened. Christie, a possible 2016 Republican presidential contender, denies that he had any role in or knowledge of a plot to shut down the lanes.
An investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office is continuing. No one has been charged.
The legislative panel is scheduled to meet on Monday to formally release the report to the public.
Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
Amazing…here’s a guy who has demonstrated time and again that there is NOTHING in his state he isn’t aware of and suddenly he is ignorant. If you are governor and the news is awash with stories of massive tie ups at the GW Bridge, don’t you get curious? And if you actually did any digging or cared, it wouldn’t take long to find out that YOUR citizens are getting jammed up at the bridge because somebody decided to limit the access lanes on the NEW JERSEY side of the bridge.
Wouldn’t it be amazing if the Governor could step in, restore the old system, and look like a hero to tens of thousands of angry NJ Citizens? Wouldn’t you, as an aide to the governor, be looking to keep him advised on a big mess like this?
Christie KNEW and he knew why and he endorsed the action. I suppose you have to give him credit though. He was able to do this without leaving enough fingerprints…or more likely by putting the fear of God into anyone on his staff who was stupid enough to want to actually tell the truth
It also helps when you pay to have a report issued that is essentially nothing more than a big bucket of bleach to wipe away any fingerprints that may have been left. Notice how that report is mentioned in this article. They got it out there fast, hunkered down against the criticisms about it when it was released, and now…any article is going to mention that he was exonerated by an early report. And never mention that he commissioned said report himself and it was created by a law firm that had him as the client.
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‘No Evidence Christie Knew’
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Do you know how much effort is expended by Christie’s staff to make sure that every controversial issues can be described with this statement? - this requires ‘code words’, shredders, hushed conversations in secluded locations and people willin to fall on swords for him.
the absence of evidence, huh? There was a saying about that…but what do I know, I’m not a scientist.
I am quite sure that no one testified to the commission because they are afraid of retribution from the Fat Man and his toadies. I doubt that they even interviewed Christie, but to what end? He would simply have continued to deny any knowledge about the incident. This, by the way, from a notorious control freak, who probably counts the toilet tissue in the bathrooms. Please. There are, as always, two explanations for this: He’s lying. (My belief.) He’s so incompetent, that his lackeys could have pulled off such a thing without his knowledge? That makes him incompetent. Either way, he is not qualified to remain in office. I do hope the U.S. Attorney is able to conduct a REAL investigation, not hampered by Christie’s interference.