NEWARK, N.J. _ New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie in August 2013 approved of a traffic study to be conducted by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey at the George Washington Bridge, according to testimony in federal court here Friday from Bridget Anne Kelly, a former aide to the governor who is charged in the bridge case.
On Aug. 12, Christie asked Kelly about a planned groundbreaking event in North Jersey for a new PATH station, Kelly testified. She told Christie, a Republican, that Port Authority official David Wildstein had informed her that the study would result in "tremendous traffic problems" in Fort Lee.
"He said, 'All right.' He didn't really react. He said that's fine. He said, 'How is the relationship with Mayor Sokolich'" of Fort Lee? Kelly testified. "And I didn't know. I really didn't know."
Christie has denied that he had any knowledge or involvement in the lane closures.
Kelly said Wildstein had not told her that the traffic study was intended to punish Sokolich for his refusal to endorse Christie's re-election campaign, as prosecutors allege and as Wildstein has testified. Kelly informed Christie about the study, she testified, because Wildstein, whom she understood to be a Christie confidant, had asked her to.
She was also fearful of what might happen if she didn't inform the governor and his chief of staff, saying she thought she might be blamed for the incident.
"He was walking through (the office); he didn't even say hello," Kelly told jurors. "He said, 'Did you cancel the meetings?'"
"Yes, governor," she replied.
Asked by her attorney what Christie said next, Kelly paused. Crying, she said, "He said no one's entitled to a (expletive) meeting."
Recounting her Aug. 12 conversation with Christie about the traffic study, Kelly said she also related to him that Wildstein had hoped the governor could later hold an event touting the results of the study.
Wildstein "wanted signs," Kelly told Christie. Wildstein wanted "the governor to be with (Democratic New York Gov. Andrew) Cuomo in an election year in the fall to show bipartisan support and to really thank the governor for doing this study," Kelly testified.
"The governor said, 'That's typical Wally,'" a reference to Wildstein's former pseudonym as a political blogger, Wally Edge.
Christie also raised the lane closures with Kelly while they were underway, she testified, after he returned to Trenton from a 9/11 memorial service in Manhattan.
On his way to his office, he passed by Kelly and told her he had spoken with Wildstein at the service about the traffic study. Christie "said the mayor had reached out to the Port Authority, but Wildstein had told the governor he was handling it."
Kelly told her story of the bridge saga for the first time Friday. She was indicted in May 2015.
The day after Kelly said she first told Christie about the traffic study, she wrote in an email to Wildstein: "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee," to which Wildstein responded, "Got it."
That email was made public in January 2014 and precipitated a political firestorm that engulfed Christie. After months of news reports and legislative hearings about the lane closures, the email seemed to connect the governor's office w to a political retribution plot.
On Friday, Kelly explained that she sent the email to inform Wildstein that she had told the governor about the study, as Wildstein had asked her to do.
"At that time _ and I know that's hard to believe _ this was something David told me the Port Authority was doing. He told me it was something the Port Authority believed was a public policy issue, was a public safety issue," Kelly testified. "I chose words parroting words he had used to me."
"Poor choice of words?" asked her attorney, Michael Critchley Sr.
"Very," she said.
