By Michael Aron
Chief Political Correspondent
Christina Renna was a mid-level Christie staffer. Peter Sheridan was a Republican operative working on Christie’s re-election campaign.
Four months after the lane closures, Christie was still calling it a mistake and was asked if he was confident his staff had nothing to do with it.
“Yeah, I have absolutely no reason to believe that, Angie, and I’ve made it very clear to everybody on my senior staff that if anyone has any knowledge about this that they needed to come forward to me and tell me about it and they’ve all assured me they don’t,” Christie said. “Oh yeah, I’ve spoken to Mr. Stepien, the person in charge of the campaign, and he’s assured me the same thing.”
At that moment Renna texted Sheridan: “Are you listening. He just flat out lied about senior staff and Stepien not being involved.”
Sheridan texted back: “I’m listening. Gov is doing fine. Holding his own up there.”
“Yes,” Renna replied. “But he lied. And if e-mails are found with the subpoena or ccfg [Chris Christie for Governor] emails are uncovered in discovery if it comes to that it could be bad.”
That exchange was included in court documents the lawyer for indicted former Port Authority honcho Bill Baroni filed this morning and first reported in the Bergen Record.
It grabbed the attention of John Wisniewski, co-chair of the legislative inquiry into the bridge affair.
“We’ve had lots of people come before the committee, or have been interviewed by Gibson Dunn, and offer myriad explanations to explain away what we all know took place. This is the first time we’ve seen somebody within that inner circle use the word lie,” Wisniewski said.
Christie’s spokesman said today: “The Governor’s statements have been clear. Nothing in this text message changes that in any way. He stands by those statements completely and unequivocally.”
A lawyer for former Christie campaign manager Bill Stepien reiterated his client’s complete innocence today.
The trial of Baroni and former deputy chief of staff Bridget Kelly begins Sept. 19. It’s possible the governor could be called as a witness.
Wisniewski says the new text message suggests Christie knew more than he was letting on at that December 2013 press conference.
“He was risking an awful lot at a point in time where it would have been very simple for him to say my staff got carried away, and this is exactly what happened, and when it happened and why it happened. But he hasn’t done that. He’s taken the preposterous position that he knew nothing, which if you have any familiarity with how a governor’s office works, is hard to believe. But now we have a smoking gun if you will calling out the governor. I think it raises the implication about what the governor knew and when did he know it,” Wisniewski said.
Christie that day was asked if there was any more to know.
“I don’t think so,” he said. “I certainly in response to Angie’s question said that I’ve spoken to everybody on my staff and asked anybody around here and my campaign manager if they knew anything more about this that we already know and they’ve told me no. And so, the chief of staff and the chief counsel assure me that they feel comfortable that they have all the information we need to have, so I don’t think so, David, but we’re going to turn the page now.”
A month later the scandal would blow up with the disclosure of an e-mail saying, “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee” and Christie would be apologizing.
We asked a prominent defense lawyer if this new text message saying Christie lied was a big deal. “Too early to tell,” he said. “Could be significant, too early to tell.”