TRENTON, N.J. _ Federal prosecutors are asking a judge to sentence the self-proclaimed architect of the George Washington Bridge lane-closure scheme to probation, according to court documents made public Tuesday.
David Wildstein is scheduled to be sentenced by U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton on Wednesday, nearly four years after he set in motion a bizarre political revenge plot that would help derail Gov. Chris Christie's political career.
Wildstein, Christie's former No. 2 executive appointee at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, was the government's star witness in last fall's trial of two other former Christie allies, both of whom were sentenced to prison.
Wildstein pleaded guilty to conspiracy charges in 2015. He testified against Bridget Anne Kelly, Christie's former deputy chief of staff, and Bill Baroni, Christie's top executive appointee at the Port Authority.
"In the truest sense, Wildstein has fully complied with the letter and spirit of his plea and cooperation. He fully accepted responsibility for his criminal acts and other behavior," prosecutors wrote in a letter to the judge.
They said Wildstein's cooperation "led directly to the indictment and convictions of Baroni and Kelly."
"Put simply, were it not for Wildstein's decision to cooperate and disclose the true nature of the lane reductions, there likely would have been no prosecutions related to the bridge scheme," prosecutors wrote.
Under sentencing guidelines, Wildstein faces up to 33 months in prison.
Prosecutors accused Kelly, Baroni, Wildstein and unnamed co-conspirators of closing access lanes from Fort Lee, Bergen County, to the bridge for four days in September 2013, causing massive traffic jams, in order to punish the town's Democratic mayor for his refusal to endorse the Republican governor's re-election campaign. Then they tried to cover up the scheme by calling it a traffic study, prosecutors said.
A federal jury found Kelly and Baroni guilty of seven felony counts each, including obtaining by fraud and intentionally misapplying property of an organization (the Port Authority) that received federal aid; wire fraud; and civil rights violations.
During several days of testimony, Wildstein testified that the bridge plot was his idea but that he received approval from Baroni and Kelly before implementing it.
Wildstein, who attended high school with Christie in Livingston, N.J., also testified that the governor was aware of the traffic jams while they were ongoing.
At a 9/11 commemorative event in Manhattan, Wildstein told jurors, Baroni informed Christie of the traffic tie-ups and that the governor would be "pleased to know" the Port Authority wasn't returning Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich's phone calls.
Christie laughed and responded, "Well, I'm sure Mr. Edge would not be involved in anything that's political," Wildstein testified. That was a reference to Wildstein's former life as an anonymous political blogger who wrote under the pseudonym Wally Edge, a riff on former New Jersey Gov. Walter Edge.
Christie has denied having any knowledge of the bridge plot.
