3 former Christie allies charged in bridge scheme
NEWARK, N.J. – Federal prosecutors brought charges Friday against three former allies of Gov. Chris Christie – but not Christie himself – in the George Washington Bridge traffic scandal, apparently easing the legal threat that has hung over his 2016 White House ambitions for more than a year.
One of those charged, David Wildstein, a former high-ranking official at the transportation agency that operates the bridge, pleaded guilty, saying he and the other defendants engineered huge traffic jams to get even with a local politician.
Christie was not implicated in court or in the indictments.
“Based on the evidence currently available to us, we’re not going to charge anyone else in this scheme,” U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman said at a news conference.
The Republican governor claimed vindication.
“Today’s charges make clear that what I’ve said from day one is true: I had no knowledge or involvement in the planning or execution of this act,” Christie said in a statement.
While Christie may be out of any immediate legal danger, politically it could be more complicated. The furor has already damaged his standing in the polls, and the charges put the scandal back in the news just as the presidential cycle is getting underway and other candidates are jumping into the race.
“I would go so far as to say that this really signals a death knell to his presidential aspirations,” said Brigid Harrison, a political science professor at New Jersey’s Montclair State University. “You have key staffers who have been indicted, and one of the things that primary voters look to is: How would a prospective president manage their staff?”
Wildstein, a former official at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, pleaded guilty to conspiracy, saying in court that he and the other Christie loyalists closed lanes and created gridlock in September 2013 as political payback against a Democratic mayor.
He also said the three of them concocted a cover story: It was a traffic study.
Wildstein, 53, could face about two years in prison at sentencing Aug. 6.
The two people he implicated – former Christie deputy chief of staff Bridget Kelly and Bill Baroni, who was the governor’s top appointee at the Port Authority – were charged in an indictment unsealed later in the day.
Essentially, the three defendants were accused of misusing public resources for political gain.
Kelly and Baroni are due in court Monday on charges including conspiracy, fraud and deprivation of civil rights.
Baroni’s lawyer, Michael Baldassare, said Baroni will be fully exonerated and that Wildstein is a habitual liar.
Kelly emphatically denied any wrongdoing and said she will work relentlessly to clear her name. “I never ordered or conspired with David Wildstein to close or realign lanes of the bridge for any reason, much less for retribution,” she said.