Christie, Aide Talked Bridge-gate Before It Happened, Court Hears

Gov. Chris Christie and his ex-aide, Bridget Anne Kelly, talked about Bridge-gate before it happened, Kelly’s lawyer Michael Critchley said Tuesday during the trial over the 2013 George Washington Bridge lane closings.

Critchley also claimed that Kelly and Christie spoke about the bridge’s lane closings the week they were happening, The New York Times reported.

In the months following the lane closings, several of Christie’s top advisers reportedly had informed him that Kelly, his former deputy chief of staff, had emails about the closings, The Times noted.

Kelly and former Christie aide Bill Baroni are on trial for authorizing the lane closings and then covering them up. Prosecutors say the lane closings were orchestrated in Fort Lee, New Jersey, as payback against the Democratic mayor for refusing to endorse Christie's re-election bid.

The New Jersey governor, who is currently advising Donald Trump, has repeatedly denied having any knowledge of or taking part in the incident, according to Politico.

Christie has not been charged, even though former Port Authority official David Wildstein, has testified under oath that he and Baroni, spoke with Christie about traffic problems that were being caused by the lane closings, Politico noted.

Deborah Gramiccioni, a former federal prosecutor and now a nominee to be a Superior Court judge in New Jersey, testified early Tuesday, saying that in a meeting late that December, Christie was furious and had demanded to be made aware of any of his senior staff who might have had emails or information pertaining to the lane closings, Politico noted.

“During this meeting with the governor and senior staff, the governor was incredibly angry and let us know how angry he was,” Gramiccioni testified during questioning by federal prosecutors. “In a thunderous tone, told us how disappointed he was that he had just won a landslide victory and was now dealing with a number of things, one of them being the lane closure.”

Christie then gave his staff an hour to tell either one of his two highest-ranking aides what they knew about the closures.

Shortly after that, Christie held a press conference in which he was asked about the bridge incident and whether he could “say with certainty” that no one on his staff had knowledge of or involvement in the lane closings, Politico noted. Christie said he could.

• Politico: Christie Could Be Impeached Over Bridge-gate
• Trump’s Top Aides May Be Witnesses in Bridge-gate Trial