Close allies of Gov. Chris Christie used public resources as political payback. And Christie? He’s in the clear. A stunning development in the scandal that came to be known as Bridgegate — the conspiracy to close lanes at the world’s busiest bridge in September of 2013. Indicted are Christie’s former Deputy Chief of Staff Bridget Anne Kelly and Former Port Authority Deputy Executive Director Bill Baroni on seven criminal counts each, for a total of nine.
Their co-conspirator — who turned state’s evidence against them — David Wildstein plead guilty to two counts of conspiracy. The former top Christie appointee to the Port Authority in charge of interstate capitol projects admitted he conspired to obtain by fraud, knowingly convert and intentionally misapply property of an organization receiving federal benefits and that he conspired against the civil rights of the citizens of Fort Lee. Wildstein’s scheduled to be sentenced on Aug. 6, but that could be postponed should he decide to testify against his accused co-conspirators at their trials. Wildstein’s attorney, Alan Zegas, took a parting shot at Christie, suggesting that there’s evidence he knew of the plot.
“Mr. Wildstein just plead guilty to two counts involving traffic caused on the George Washington Bridge, a matter in which he was intimately involved. He deeply regrets what occurred that week in 2013. He can’t undo what was done, but what he has done to date, and that is to plead guilty and to fully cooperate with the United States Attorney’s Office should shed truth on what occurred during the course of that week, what led to the events and what ensued thereafter. Mr. Wildstein has been cooperating for some time with the government. He has had hundreds if not thousands of questions asked of him. The government is more than satisfied with his cooperation and his truthfulness and has said to the judge today that during the course of the plea, that it acknowledges that he has fully accepted responsibility for his conduct leading to the traffic jam on the George Washington Bridge,” Zegas said. “There is a lot more that will come out. Unfortunately, I am not in a position to talk about matters of detail because this is an ongoing investigation and Mr. Wildstein is still being asked questions by the government and if need be, is prepared to testify at trial.”
The indictments against Bridget Anne Kelly and Bill Baroni include the conspiracy charges Wildstein plead guilty to — mis-applying government resources and deprivation of civil rights. But they also include counts of wire fraud and conspiracy to commit wire fraud, presumably because of the now notorious email exchanges. U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman and his team conducted a 16-month long investigation leading up to the indictments.
“Today we’re here to announce the guilty plea of David Wildstein, which will give the public and the people of Fort Lee some answers about just what happened and why during that week of September 2013. Mr. Wildstein, who was then the director of interstate capital projects at the Port Authority admitted in federal court this morning that he and others orchestrated a deliberate and illegal scheme to reduce the access lanes from three to one in order to punish Mark Sokolich, the mayor of Fort Lee, for not endorsing Gov. Christie’s reelection. In particular, Mr. Wildstein plead guilty to a two-count information. The first count charged him with conspiracy to misuse and mis-apply the resources and property of the Port Authority to what amounts to a political vendetta. The second count charged him with conspiracy to violate the civil rights of the citizens of Fort Lee by intentionally interfering with their right to travel,” Fishman said.
“We are also here to announce that a federal grand jury has returned a nine-count indictment charging William E. Baroni Jr. who was then the deputy director of the Port Authority and Bridget Anne Kelly, the former deputy chief of staff in Gov. Christie’s office with the same scheme to misuse the property and resources of the Port Authority to punish Mayor Sokolich for not endorsing the governor,” Fishman continued. “That calculated scheme created havoc for Mayor Sokolich’s constituents and violated various criminal laws. In particular, the indictment alleges and Mr. Wildstein’s admitted, that he and Baroni and Kelly executed a plan to suddenly and without warning drastically reduce the number of local access lanes to the bridge, knowing full well and intending that this maneuver would gridlock Fort Lee.”
“The indictment alleges that Baroni, Kelly and Wildstein agreed to this plan in August of 2013, after Kelly confirmed that Mayor Sokolich was not endorsing Gov. Christie. On Aug. 13, 2013, she sent an email to David Wildstein: ‘Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee.’ Although Wildstein immediately replied, ‘Got it,’ they chose not to execute the plan in mid-August which is typically a light month for traffic. Instead, they deliberately waited until Monday, Sept. 9, which they knew was the first day of school in Fort Lee to further ratchet up the injury to Fort Lee’s residents,” said Fishman. “When the scheme worked, and the traffic in the town was paralyzed, Mayor Sokolich and other Fort Lee officials almost immediately reached out to Baroni and to others at the Port Authority and later that week to the governor’s office. They not only wanted explanations, they wanted help. But as the indictment alleges, and as Wildstein admitted, none of the co-conspirators responded, nor did they have anyone else to do so. Instead they referred to the treatment they gave Mayor Sokolich as radio silence.”