High School Baseball Coach Says Christie, Wildstein Did In Fact Travel In The Same Circles

David Wildstein takes an oath during a hearing Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014, at the Statehouse in Trenton. Wildstein, a former appointee of Gov. Chris Christie is refusing to answer questions from a legislative committee ... David Wildstein takes an oath during a hearing Thursday, Jan. 9, 2014, at the Statehouse in Trenton. Wildstein, a former appointee of Gov. Chris Christie is refusing to answer questions from a legislative committee looking into a scandal involving punitive traffic lane closures. The Christie administration stands accused of closing lanes on the George Washington Bridge, linking New York and New Jersey, in order to create a huge traffic backup as retribution against a local mayor for not endorsing the governor’s reelection. (AP Photo/Mel Evans) MORE LESS
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During his epic press conference last week, Gov. Chris Christie’s (R) repeated insistence that he barely knows Port Authority official David Wildstein stood out.

The New Jersey governor made it a point to say that, contrary to media reports and despite the fact that they attended the same high school, he and Wildstein were “not friends.”

“We didn’t travel in the same circles in high school. You know, I was the class president and athlete. I don’t know what David was doing during that period of time,” Christie said.

But The New Republic’s Alec MacGillis revealed Friday that Christie and Wildstein weren’t exactly worlds apart. MacGillis caught up with Tony Hope, the former baseball coach at Livingston High School, who recalled that Christie was the team’s catcher while Wildstein served as “our baseball statistician.”

Almost immediately following Christie’s nearly two-hour presser, Wildstein took the Fifth and refused to answer questions at a state Assembly committee hearing on the George Washington Bridge scandal.

Wildstein corresponded about lane closures on the bridge with fired Christie aide Bridget Anne Kelly in documents obtained by TPM.

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