Witnesses at the trial over bridge closures in New Jersey will testify that Gov. Chris Christie knew about the traffic problems, alleged to have been created as political payback, prosecutors said Monday.
During opening statements of the trial of two former Christie aides, the US attorney told the jury they would hear testimony pointing to others’ alleged role in the scheme, according to NJ.com.
Assistant US Attorney Vikas Khanna said former Christie confidante and Port Authority executive David Wildstein will testify that he told Christie about the plan to close lanes on the George Washington Bridge while it was causing traffic problems in Fort Lee, New Jersey, where the mayor was a political rival of Christie.
“The evidence will show that … they bragged about the fact that there were traffic problems in Fort Lee and that Mayor (Mark) Sokolich was not getting his calls returned,” Khanna said, according to NJ.com.
Text about Christie: He ‘flat-out lied’
Christie has never been named as a conspirator in the case or charged.
Wildstein has pled guilty in the case and pointed to the two staffers on trial, Bill Baroni, a Port Authority appointee, and Bridget Kelly, the governor’s former deputy chief of staff.
Khanna also told the jury Wildstein will admit conceiving of the idea and will testify Kelly ordered it and Baroni approved it. The traffic headache was allegedly intentionally called for because Sokolich did not endorse Christie’s re-election.
Baroni’s attorneys have sought to argue that Baroni is being unfairly singled out in the scheme. In a previous court filing, the attorneys released a text message exchange from a Christie aide saying he “flat-out lied” during a news conference about the bridge closures. Christie had said senior staff were not involved in that news event. He later said that staff in his office lied, but that he hadn’t known it at the time of the news conference.
Christie has long denied any involvement in the closures and neither the federal investigation nor the New Jersey legislative inquiry has pointed to him.
After an unsuccessful run for president, the governor is now chairing the transition effort of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
In December 2015, when they were opponents, Trump told an audience in South Carolina Christie “totally knew about it,” referring to the Bridgegate closures.
The Trump campaign did not respond to a request for comment.