New court documents from the ongoing investigation into Gov. Chris Christie’s (R-NJ) involvement in the Bridgegate saga uncovered text messages that suggest senior staff in the Christie administration were well aware of the political vendetta behind the decision to close several lanes of the George Washington Bridge, contrary to the governor’s own statements.
The text messages were sent between Christie aides Christina Renna and Peter Sheridan during a press conference by the governor in 2013. In response to a question about whether any senior staff acted on his behalf to exact political retribution by closing the bridge, Christie flatly denied any knowledge of wrongdoing.
NEW court filing with texts between Christie aides, sent December 2013:
"Are you listening? He just flat out lied." pic.twitter.com/iqIXqD21Y2— Matt Katz (@mattkatz00) August 10, 2016
“I have absolutely no reason to believe that,” he said. “And I’ve made it very clear to everybody on my senior staff that if anyone had any knowledge about this, that they needed to come forward.”
Renna, who was watching the press conference, shot off a text to Sheridan.
“Are you listening? He just flat out lied about senior staff and [Christie campaign manager Bill] Stepien not being involved,” she said. Sheridan replied, noting that Christie was doing well during the press conference.
“Yes. But he lied,” responded Renna.
For a time, Christie was considered a top-tier presidential candidate, a seemingly perfect blend of Trumpesque brashness (minus most of the racist strains), a Cruzian résumé as a top attorney for the state, and a Rubio-like ability to at least feign bipartisanship and a willingness to get things done.
But his political fortunes were abridged in 2013, when investigators began looking into the unexpected closure of the George Washington Bridge, the most heavily trafficked bridge in the world. Critics alleged that the closure, which sent traffic pouring into the streets of Fort Lee, New Jersey for a week, was an act of political retribution against the city’s Democratic Mayor Mark Sokolich for his refusal to endorse Christie’s reelection bid.
Christie has maintained he was unaware of any malicious intent informing the decision to close the bridge in 2013, but investigators have continued to search for emails and other correspondence that prove he lied to investigators and the public. These text messages, which also allude to damaging emails from the Christie reelection campaign, might be the strongest evidence yet that Christie’s involvement was far from peripheral.
More than just a traffic nightmare, the closure put lives in jeopardy with emergency vehicles unable to navigate surface roads, and fallout from the scandal has already cost New Jersey taxpayers more than $10 million in legal fees alone. A former Port Authority official was forced to resign, Christie fired a deputy chief of staff who helped orchestrate the closures, and multiple officials from Christie’s campaign are still tied up in lawsuits related to the case.