Bridget Kelly Will Apparently Spill The Beans .... [View all]

[Laxman]

on Governor Christie! Her attorney let on in cross-examination of a witness today that she will testify that she discussed the lane closures with Christie BEFORE they happened. Looks like somebody lied to the U.S. Attorney. That does not look good for Mr. Trump's Goon-in-Chief, does it. Mr. Christie appeared visibly concerned to hear that, Ms. Gramiccioni testified in U.S. District Court in Newark on Tuesday. Oh now, did he?

Defense Attorney: Christie Learned of Lane Closures Before They Occurred

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie learned of lane closures at the George Washington Bridge before they occurred, an attorney said in court Tuesday.

Michael Critchley, who represents defendant Bridget Kelly, indicated through his questioning of a witness that his client, a former deputy chief of staff to the governor, had conversations with Mr. Christie about the closures both before they happened and while they were occurring.

“Did you know that Bridget Kelly and the governor had discussions about the lane closures before they occurred?” said Mr. Critchley.

The witness, a former Port Authority executive, said she didn’t.

Mr. Critchley continued, “Did you know that Bridget Kelly and the governor had discussions about the lane closures [while] they were occurring?”

She said she didn’t.

While a previous witness and a federal prosecutor have said the governor learned of the lane closures while they were occurring, the attorney’s statements Tuesday were the first mention so far of earlier conversations the governor had about the closures. If true, the detail would undermine Mr. Christie’s yearslong insistence that he was blind-sided by the involvement of his close aide in the lane closures.

According to previous testimony, Mr. Christie learned of the closures on Sept. 11, 2013, just before a commemoration ceremony at the World Trade Center site, during a discussion with David Wildstein, a former Port Authority official who has pleaded guilty for his role in the closures, and Bill Baroni, who is on trial for his alleged role.

Prosecutors say Mr. Baroni, former deputy executive director of the Port Authority, and Ms. Kelly used closed lanes to create traffic in Fort Lee, N.J., to punish the borough’s Democratic mayor for not endorsing Mr. Christie, a Republican.

Spokesmen for Mr. Christie didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment. The governor hasn’t been accused of wrongdoing and has denied all knowledge of the closures. He has also said if someone had told him of traffic on the bridge, there was no indication of something unusual.

The lane-closure trial started its fourth week Tuesday with testimony from Deborah Gramiccioni, a former federal prosecutor who Mr. Christie appointed as deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey when he announced the resignation of Mr. Baroni in December 2013. Ms. Gramiccioni, who went to law school with Mr. Baroni and said she considered him a friend, testified about events in December 2013, when the governor’s office was struggling to contain the fallout from the closures.

Ms. Gramiccioni testified that the evening before Mr. Christie gave a news conference denying his staff’s knowledge of or involvement in the closures, she went to talk to him.

“I told him that there was a hum—I used the word hum—that Bridget was on emails related to the lane closures,” said witness Ms. Gramiccioni, referring to Bridget Kelly, a defendant in the lane-closure trial. “And I knew that because I’d spoken to Bill Baroni,” she added, referring to the trial’s other defendant, whom she was to replace at the bistate agency.

Read the rest here: http://www.wsj.com/articles/witness-recounts-christies-efforts-to-contain-fallout-from-bridge-scandal-1476202740