Electrifying testimony in the Bridgegate trial. Testimony that’s put Gov. Chris Christie on the defensive. Cameras are not allowed in federal court, but NJTV News Chief Political Correspondent Michael Aron is. And he’s back with this report.
Aron: I’d say this was explosive testimony here in Newark federal court from David Wildstein today. The former Port Authority operative described a conversation with Gov. Christie about the lane closures during the lane closures. The occasion was the 9/11 memorial ceremony at Ground Zero in 2013. Wildstein and his Port Authority boss Bill Baroni — one of the two people on trial — were milling about with the governor. Wildstein testified today that Baroni said, “Governor, I have to talk to you about something… There’s a tremendous amount of traffic in Fort Lee. You’ll be pleased to know that Mayor [Mark] Sokolich is not getting his phone calls returned.” To which the governor, according to Wildstein, replied, “Well, I imagine he wouldn’t be getting his phone calls returned.” Baroni told the governor, according to this account, that Wildstein had been instrumental in the scheme. And then according to Wildstein, who once used the pseudonym Wally Edge, the name of a former governor, Christie said, “‘Well, I’m sure Mr. Edge would never do anything political.” And then he laughed, Wildstein testified. Now, It has been alleged before that Christie was told about the traffic scheme that day. He has said several times in the past that, if so, it just didn’t register with him:
Christie (Feb. 3, 2014): You know, things could have been mentioned to me about traffic at any point in time. None of it was memorable to me, Eric, because I didn’t know there was any issue.
Aron: In the Mastro report, the investigation financed by the governor’s office, it discusses the photographs at Ground Zero that day but says only that Gov. Christie “exchanged pleasantries” with Baroni and Wildstein that day. Wildstein today testified that Bridget Kelly, the other Christie loyalist on trial, had told Christie the day before — Tuesday, Sept. 10, the week of the lane closures — about the plan and that Gov. Christie was “on board” with it. Christie addressed today’s testimony at the end of a drug addiction event with Gov. Jim McGreevey in his office in Trenton:
Christie: One other thing before I go. There’s all kinds of stuff going on up in a courtroom in Newark and I want to be really clear to all of you about something. I have not and will not say anything different than I’ve been saying since January of 2014, no matter what is said up there. I had no knowledge prior to or during these lane realignments. I had no role in authorizing it. I had no knowledge of it. And there has been no evidence ever put forward that I did. I want the people of New Jersey to know that while this goes on up there, that the reason I am here and not there is because what I said in January of 2014 was true then, it’s true today and it will never be proven to be anything but true. So we all must endure what’s going on up there, me and Mary Pat in particular.
Aron: No other evidence has ever been put forward, says the governor. But Sen. Loretta Weinberg, a Democrat who has attended the trial, said she believes Wildstein’s account of the conversation at Ground Zero.
Weinberg: He gave some texture to that discussion, even going so far as to say that the governor referred to him as Mr. Edge from the famous pseudonym Wally Edge, saying the governor said, “Of course Mr. Edge wouldn’t do anything political.” Any of us who know the background of that, know Gov. Christie know that he knew what he was talking about when he said that.
Aron: David Wildstein has been on the stand two days and one hour and hasn’t even been cross-examined yet. That could begin tomorrow and take another two or three days.