Gov. Chris Christie's high-school buddy and former Port Authority of New York and New Jersey appointee, David Wildstein, has
pleaded guilty to plotting to create a 2013 traffic jam on the George Washington Bridge as political payback against a Christie opponent.
On Friday morning, Judge Susan D. Wigenton, who presided over the case, laid out the conspiracy involving the three Christie confidants. She asked Mr. Wildstein a laundry list of questions, all of which he answered with a soft “yes,” while standing at the defense table.
She asked if he conspired with Mr. Baroni and Ms. Kelly to shut down lanes to retaliate against Mayor Mark Sokolich of Fort Lee for not endorsing Mr. Christie in his 2013 re-election campaign.
“Did you agree with Mr. Baroni and Ms. Kelly to punish Mayor Sokolich by causing significant lane access problems,” the judge asked, staring down from the bench at Mr. Wildstein.
"Yes," Mr. Wildstein answered.
Wildstein's lawyer, Alan Zegas, says that "evidence exists" that Christie knew about the closings when they occured. So that should make the next few months of Christie's president campaign posturing interesting.
In addition, Bill Baroni, the former deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and Bridget Anne Kelly, a former deputy chief of staff to Mr. Christie have been indicted by Paul J. Fishman, the United States attorney for New Jersey. Those indictments include "multiple counts of conspiracy to commit fraud, including 'knowingly converting and intentionally misapplying property of an organization receiving federal benefits.'" You can read the full indictment here.
So Wildstein throws Kelly and Baroni under the bus, and thus far Christie skates. Because despite the fact that his very old friend, his deputy chief of staff, and the guy he put in charge of the port authority were plotting political revenge on his behalf, Christie had absolutely no idea any of this was being concocted out of his office. To hear him tell it, he barely knows Wildstein. That's despite the fact that "records and interviews indicate that during his tenure at the Port Authority, Wildstein met at least twice with Christie and others in the governor's office, joined Christie at seven public events and had regular meetings with Christie's closest confidantes."
If you believe that, I've got another bridge in the greater metropolitan New York area to sell you. Still, it's hard to see how Christie manages to spin this into something that helps him run for president. Now, real right wingers might actually like the idea that he's vindictive enough to conspire on such a scheme. But the line he's decided to go with is that he was completely disconnected from this conspiracy happening right under his nose, in his office. He could go with either evil or incompetent, and has chosen the latter. Way to inspire confidence in your leadership!
There's ongoing discussion in Bethesda 1971's diary.