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Chris Christie Goes On Radio To Insist 'I Had Nothing To Do With' Bridgegate

By

Jen Chung

Published Feb 4, 2014

Modified Feb 4, 2014

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Governor Christie during his radio program 'Ask the Governor'

 

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By

Jen Chung

Published Feb 4, 2014

Modified Feb 4, 2014

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After attacking his old colleague and the NY Times, NJ Governor Chris Christie went on the offensive last night during his radio program, "Ask the Governor." The embattled governor said of Bridgegate, "I had nothing to do with this. No knowledge. No authorization. No planning, nothing to do with this before this decision was made to close these lanes by the Port Authority."

Christie claims he only found out about this by reading an October 1, 2013 Wall Street Journal—not from his aides—which noted that NY's top Port Authority chief was livid over the George Washington Bridge lane closures in Fort Lee, NJ in September. (Those closures lasted a week, snarling commuters in hours of delays.)

The WSJ points out, "On Jan. 9, however, Mr. Christie said he learned of the matter earlier, from a news source he didn't identify that had written 'something about the traffic.' Mr. Christie's administration said over the weekend that one of those articles, a column in the Record on Sept. 13, was how Mr. Christie first learned what was occurring."

Christie also said, "I'm determined to get to the bottom of it. To fix it once and for all, if I haven't fixed it already by the action I've taken." He also discussed how his office hired a law firm for an internal investigation:

He also Tweeted, "The people of New Jersey should know, something like this will never happen again."

Christie's staff—the current and fired/resigned staffers—have been subpoenaed as part of the NJ State Legislature's investigation. Former deputy chief of staff Bridget Anne Kelly is invoking the Fifth Amendment. Kelly, of course, wrote the infamous email to then-Port Authority executive David Wildstein saying, "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee."

Kelly's lawyer said, "Here, the information demanded from Ms. Kelly … directly overlaps with a parallel federal grand jury investigation being conducted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey. As such … Kelly asserts her rights under the Fifth Amendment of the United States constitution and New Jersey law and will not produce the information demanded by the Committee."

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bridgegate

bridget anne kelly

Chris Christie

scandal

Jen Chung

Jen Chung is a former WNYC and Gothamist editor.

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