NEWARK, N.J. _ A federal judge Thursday rejected an attempt by the defendants in the George Washington Bridge lane-closure case to subpoena New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's phone and other records.
U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton, ruling from the bench, said parts of a subpoena issued by the defense to the governor's office were too broad and did not meet a legal threshold established in the Watergate affair involving President Richard Nixon.
The law firm representing Christie's office, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP, says it has already provided the defendants _ Bridget Anne Kelly, Christie's former deputy chief of staff, and Bill Baroni, a former top Christie appointee at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey _ with the same documents it gave to prosecutors in response to grand jury subpoenas in 2014.
Kelly and Baroni are accused of causing massive traffic jams in Fort Lee in September 2013 as part of a plot to punish a local mayor for his refusal to endorse Christie's re-election that year. They face trial in September.
After more than two hours of oral argument here, Baroni's attorney, Michael Baldassare, said he would issue trial subpoenas to lawyers representing Christie and several of his former top aides, seeking phone records, among other things. Trial subpoena means defense would get the information on first day of trial, according to Baldassare.
Christie exchanged a dozen text messages with Regina Egea, head of the unit that oversaw the Port Authority, on Dec. 9, 2013, according to phone records subpoenaed by lawmakers who investigated the lane closures. The committee was unable to recover the text messages and concluded that they had been deleted.
At the time, Port Authority personnel were testifying before the Legislature.
Defense attorneys say they want to know what Christie and Egea were discussing and when the texts were deleted. Egea has said she texted the governor about the Port Authority employees' professionalism.
