Update! Feds meet with attorney assisting legislative investigation/ Was Wildstein advised to lie?

[ProSense]

Update! Feds meet with attorney assisting legislative investigation/ Was Wildstein advised to lie?

by Onomastic

I like people who make sure all the "i's" are dotted and the "t's" crossed, don't you? Especially when it comes to investigating Governor Christie and his administration.

Federal prosecutors met on Friday with the attorney assisting with a legislative investigation into the George Washington Bridge lane closures, the attorney said Saturday, while pledging to avoid interfering with the criminal probe.

"I met with the US Attorney's Office on Friday," special counsel Reid Schar said in a statement. "Based on the meeting, I am comfortable that the Committee's investigation may continue. As we proceed we will be mindful of the need to avoid taking steps that could inappropriately impede any investigation the U.S. Attorney's Office may be conducting."

The meeting fell on the same day that a lawyer for David Wildstein, a former Christie ally, released a letter claiming there was evidence that Christie knew about the lane closures as they were happening in September. Christie has said he didn't know about the closures until after they were reversed.

http://www.northjersey.com/news/GWB_scandal_Federal_prosecutors_.html

Ah yes, Wildstein attorney Alan Zegas' letter to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, better know as Governor Christie's patronage pit and slush fund.

A couple things to note here. First of all, according to Scott Raab, New Jersey resident and Esquire writer at large who has covered the Port Authority for years, Wildstein was Christie's enforcer and spy at the Port Authority. He was the Governor's "New Jersey muscle."

And now Christie's enforcer is threatening to spill the beans on Christie and the Port Authority he controlled.

In today's Esquire piece, Raab lays out the history of Christie's henchmen at the Port Authority and just why Zegas' letter and what it alludes too holds the key to Christie's future.

...To the extent there is any smoking gun here -- and Christie’s media people have already responded that the Zegas letter ‘confirms what the Governor has said all along’ -- it has been fired against the Port Authority. Zegas’s between-the-lines suggestion that the Port’s own lawyer essentially advised Wildstein to give false testimony, is stunning, and speaks to a corruption far more fundamental -- and far more dangerous -- than any discrete incident of conflict and criminality.

The Zegas letter also speaks, indirectly, to U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman, whose office is conducting its own investigation -- and has no comment on the letter. Will Fishman offer Wildstein immunity from criminal prosecution in exchange for cooperation? Will Fishman, an Obama appointee, play hardball?

Clearly, Wildstein will -- he truly has no other choice, unless he wants to be the fall guy. As for Christie, he’s a dead man waddling, with nothing left to lose. The governor’s embrace of the Zegas letter is frankly delusional: Chris Christie ran the Port Authority, and looted it, too. From the beginning, his only hope was to portray himself as the innocent victim of folks he trusted. This much is true: He trusted them. Not because they were honest or interested in serving the public good, but because they were not. They were Chris Christie’s chosen thugs, and not for nothing.

http://www.esquire.com/blogs/politics/wildstein-christie

Hubris is weaving an interesting web for Christie. How coincidental can it be that on the same day Zegas' letter was released, Federal Prosecutors met "with the attorney assisting with a legislative investigation into the George Washington Bridge lane closures?"

Secondly, popcorn may not be nearly substantial enough. Time for good chocolate, wine, cheese, and Irish Whiskey. Appropriate musical interludes would be good too.

- more -

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/02/01/1274324/--GWB-scandal-Federal-prosecutors-meet-with-attorney-assisting-legislative-investigation

Christie Hits Back: Bridge Official Will 'Say Anything To Save' Himself
http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024427736

[spanone]

1. k&r...

[DURHAM D]

2. Wildstein is not "Christie's enforcer and spy".

David Samson, the head of the PA, has that role.

[ProSense]

3. No,

"Wildstein is not 'Christie's enforcer and spy'. David Samson, the head of the PA, has that role."

...Samson is a much bigger player. He helped to create Christie. Christie hired Wildstein for the role.

Ex-blogger is Governor Christie's eyes, ears inside the Port Authority

For a decade, he was a faceless force in New Jersey politics, an Internet blogger who delivered scoops while keeping his identity a closely guarded secret...David Wildstein, formerly known by the pen name Wally Edge, is playing a key behind-the-scenes role in Governor Christie’s effort to get more control over the Port Authority...in Wildstein, an experienced political strategist who went to high school with the governor, the Christie administration may have found the perfect instrument to help shake things up, some say.

Longtime employees, however, privately describe a man intent on carrying out a political agenda rather than one built on reform or improving the region’s transportation system. They believe the appointment of Wildstein and dozens of others recommended by the governor — for jobs ranging from toll collector to deputy executive director — are evidence that political loyalty trumps merit.

To Christie, though, they are needed to bring about change. And Wildstein figures prominently in that effort.

“He is there in that job because he is well suited to the task of playing a role in reforming the Port Authority in accordance with the governor’s goals,” said Christie’s spokes­man, Michael Drewniak.

- more -

http://www.northjersey.com/news/ny_metro/030312_Ex-blogger_is_Governor_Christies_man_inside_the_Port_Authority.html

<...>

Wally Edge, the anonymous, acerbic and influential editor of the website PolitickerNJ, is really former Livingston Mayor David Wildstein, according to four people with personal knowledge of Edge’s identity.

Wildstein has left the site unofficially to start his new job as director of interstate capital projects at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. In his new position, which pays $215,000 a year, Wildstein is working under his own name.

He was hired by former Mercer County Republican Sen. Bill Baroni, now the No. 2 executive at the agency. Gov. Chris Christie’s office did not object to the hire...In an e-mail to The Star-Ledger late Thursday, Wally Edge said goodbye.

"After more than 10 years covering New Jersey politics, it’s time for me to retire," he wrote. "Founding PolitickerNJ.com has been a tremendous journey, spanning six governors and seven statewide elections. New Jersey has an amazing political history, many talented (political) operatives, and a huge number of very good people."

- more -

http://www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/06/politickernjs_secret_is_out_ed.html

[Laxman]

4. Here IS Something To Consider....

Alan Zegas and Mike Critchley are friends and have worked together on many big multi-defendant criminal case. Here, one has Bridget Kelly, the other Wildstein. The two who were fired from their positions and arguably the most related players in this. I am sure they are cooperating to the greatest extent possible ethically and legally to protect their client's interests. These guys are good and this isn't their first rodeo together. It will be interesting to see how things play out. Don't think for a second that there isn't some kind of coordination here.

[ProSense]

5. Thanks for the insight. Christie's

"I am sure they are cooperating to the greatest extent possible ethically and legally to protect their client's interests. These guys are good and this isn't their first rodeo together. It will be interesting to see how things play out. Don't think for a second that there isn't some kind of coordination here."

...initial response to the letter was silly. He basically agreed with the part that prove he has been lying all along and dismissed the rest as lies, and within hours, reversed course to launch an bizarre smear campaign aimed at Wildstein.

[DURHAM D]

7. Seems a twofer to me -

Bridget will be immunized and rat out the Governor's office. Wildstein will be immunized and rat out the Port Authority.

I am glad they have good counsel. Go New Jersey!

PS - I doubt Samson is sleeping at night given both roads lead back to him.

[Justice]

6. Your bolded point - PA lawyer encouraging Wildstein to lie. wowowowowow

[beckenbauer]

8. notice

otice the absence of any investigation by the NJ Attorney General? These criminal violated a myriad of State Laws yet not so much as a sneeze from the AG that immunizes Christie's cronies. Controlling the prosecutor is as old as corruption itself - I'm putting all of them on notice right now - IF KELLEY AND WILDSTEIN ARE NOT CHARGED WITH OFFICIAL MISCONDUCT I WILL SIGN THE COMPLAINT AND PROSECUTE THEM MYSELF.

[Ellipsis]

9. Welcome DU beckenbauer.