Two former allies of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie were found guilty on all counts Friday of exacting political revenge by closing lanes of the George Washington Bridge in 2013, a controversy which has become known as “Bridgegate” that has dogged Christie on the national stage.
After deliberating all week, jurors convicted Bill Baroni, a former senior official at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and Bridget Anne Kelly, a former deputy chief of staff, of seven counts of fraud, conspiracy and civil rights violations.
The pair could face up to 20 years in prison, but federal sentencing guidelines recommend sentences of one to three years.
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Kelly reportedly wept as the verdict was read. Baroni smiled and hugged family.
Federal prosecutors declined to state whether the plan to bring charges against Christie.
Baroni and Kelly were convicted of orchestrating the closing of local access lanes to the George Washington Bridge for four days in September 2013 as retribution for a local mayor’s refusal to endorse Christie’s re-election campaign for governor. The bridge — the world’s busiest and a vital connection between Manhattan and New Jersey — runs through Fort Lee, whose Democratic mayor declined to back the governor. The closures froze traffic for hours and blocked emergency vehicles.
“Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee,” Kelly wrote in one email — an eight-word message that was later highlighted by newspapers and played a prominent role in the trial.
Kelly and Baroni had maintained that they were misled by another Christie aide, David Wildstein, who they said informed them that the closings were for a traffic study. Wildstein pleaded to his role in the scheme in May 2015, and he became a main witness for the prosecution.
“I am innocent of these charges,” Baroni, standing with his attorney, told reporters outside the federal courthouse in Newark. “I am very, very looking forward to an appeal.”
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His lawyer, Michael Baldassare, criticized federal prosecutors for not charging “powerful people” — an apparent reference to Christie.
“In keeping with the disgrace that was this trial, one of the things the U.S. Attorney’s Office should be ashamed of is where it decided to draw the line on who to charge and who not to charge,” Baldassare said. “They should have had belief in their own case to charge powerful people, and they did not.”
Attorney Michael Critchley, who represented Kelly and during closing arguments thundered that Christie and “the inner circle” were “cowards, cowards,” said his client was merely a “scapegoat” for the scandal.
“Obviously, we’re disappointed,” Critchley said. “My client is innocent.” He added that they plan to appeal.
U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman lauded the verdict and defended his office’s choice to charge Kelly and Baroni.
“We indicted only the people who we believed we had evidence beyond a reasonable doub” Fishman said, according to NJ.com.
He declined to state whether his office planned to charge Christie, but he noted that those who testified during the Baroni and Kelly trial that Christie was involved would need to do so again if the governor were indicted.
“I never say what cases I am or am not going to bring,” Fishman said.
The case — easily the largest political scandal in New Jersey in years — undermined Christie’s run for president, fueling voter concerns he was untrustworthy and corrupt. Questions have continued to plague Christie’s more recent role as chief of staff to GOP presidential nominee Donald Trump, a position in which he would be responsible for picking White House appointments.
With the convictions of Kelly, Baroni and Wildstein, four senior Christie appointees have been found guilty of federal crimes. The fourth, former Port Authority Chairman David Samson, pleaded guilty in July to using his position to shakedown United Airlines to add a regularly scheduled non-stop flight from nearby Newark Liberty Airport to his summer home in South Carolina.
The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment. During the Republican primary campaign last December, however, Trump said Christie “knew about it. He totally knew about it. Totally knew about it.”
Christie has insisted he knew nothing of the lane closures. In a televised address in January 2014, the governor apologized for Bridgegate but laid the blame for its conception and execution with his aides, denying any knowledge that it had occurred. He reiterated that position — and highlighted his earlier apology — in a statement sent roughly an hour after the verdict Friday afternoon.
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“Let me be clear once again, I had no knowledge prior to or during these lane realignments, and had no role in authorizing them. No believable evidence was presented to contradict that fact. Anything said to the contrary over the past six weeks in court is simply untrue,” the governor said. “As a former federal prosecutor, I have respected these proceedings and refused to comment on the daily testimony from the trial. I will set the record straight in the coming days regarding the lies that were told by the media and in the courtroom.”
Christie has regularly touted his credentials as a corruption-busting former federal prosecutor. His administration, however, has built a bare-knuckles reputation, especially during his re-election campaign, icing out detractors and richly rewarding those who endorsed him with in-person appearances, funding for pet projects and even steel debris from the World Trade Center site for mayors to build local 9/11 memorials.
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2 Ex-Christie Aides Convicted on All Counts in Bridgegate Trial originally appeared on usnews.com
