Prosecutors: Christie Knew About Bridge Plot

Bloomberg reports:

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie knew his top allies were involved in a plan to snarl traffic near the George Washington Bridge to punish a mayor who didn’t back Christie’s re-election, prosecutors told a jury at the start of a trial.

Bridget Anne Kelly and Bill Baroni deliberately shut access lanes to the bridge to paralyze traffic in Fort Lee, New Jersey, over several mornings during the first week of school in September 2013 to retaliate against Mayor Mark Sokolich, according to the prosecutors. Christie wasn’t charged in the case, although the trial may shed light on what he knew and when he knew it.

The prosecutor said Monday that Kelly and Baroni discussed the traffic tie-up at a 9/11 ceremony that Christie attended. “During those precious few minutes, they bragged about the fact that there were traffic problems in Fort Lee and that Mayor Sokolich was not getting his calls returned,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Vikas Khanna said.

Christie, now a top campaign adviser to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, has defended his actions and fended off critics for almost three years. On Sept. 14, he told Brian Williams on MSNBC that he was “sure it was a factor” in Trump not choosing him as his running mate, referring to the scandal known as Bridgegate.