We begin with the Bridgegate trial where Chris Christie’s top appointee to the Port Authority took the stand in his own defense and painted himself as a marginalized dupe. Cameras are not allowed in the federal court, but NJTV News Chief Political Correspondent Michael Aron was there.
Aron: It was all just a traffic study.
That’s what Bill Baroni told the jury and a packed courtroom today.
If there was any political retribution involved, it was all David Wildstein’s doing, Baroni said.
Baroni said Gov. Christie had hired Wildstein to be Baroni’s helper at the Port Authority and that Wildstein had the better pipeline to the governor’s office.
He was questioned by the lawyer on the left in this shot, Jennifer Mara, one of Baroni’s four defense attorneys.
“He was below me was on the flow chart,” Baroni said, “but he reported to Trenton.”
Mara: “Could you fire David Wildstein?”
Baroni: “No.”
Mara: “Did you keep him up to date on what happening in Trenton?”
Baroni: “He kept me up to date on what was happening in Trenton.”
Baroni insisted the traffic study was real.
Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich desperately tried to get Baroni to cancel it because it was causing gridlock in his town.
Baroni never responded to Sokolich’s urgent messages.
Mara asked, “Why didn’t you call Sokolich back?”
Baroni: “I have asked myself that question so many times. But I listened to David. He said it would ruin the study. He said, ‘Let me handle this.’ So I did, and I’ve regretted it ever since.”
In his testimony, Wildstein had said that he and Baroni told Gov. Christie at a Ground Zero ceremony they were deliberately tying up traffic in Fort Lee.
Wildstein had said it was to punish the mayor for not endorsing Christie’s re-election and that they all joked about it.
Mara: “Were you present for a conversation with Gov. Christie on 9/11 about the traffic study?”
Baroni: “David Wildstein discussed with the governor the traffic study…and how it might enable him to announce he had fixed the traffic problem at the George Washington Bridge.”
Mara asked, “Was there any mention of political retribution in that conversation?”
Baroni: “No.”
“Was there any mention of punishment?”
“No.”
“Was there any mention of political endorsements?”
Baroni: “No.”
When Mara asked why they were all smiling in the photo, Baroni said they were probably discussing Gov. Cuomo of New York arriving at the event on a motorcycle with Billy Joel and 300 other riders.
So the trial is becoming a he-said, he-said between Wildstein and Baroni.
Baroni said today it was not until Friday of the week of the lane closures that he realized it had become a significant matter.
When Port Authority Executive Director Pat Foye halted it that morning, Baroni said, Port Authority Chairman David Samson told him, “Go into the office and punch Pat Foye in the face.”
Baroni insisted his legislative testimony in November of that year was honest, to the best of his knowledge.
He also said he had only his met his co-defendant Bridget Kelly once before this trial.