Christie: OK with Bridgegate defense reviewing my phone
Gov. Christie says he doesn't care whether defense counsel in the George Washington Bridge lane-closure case review his phone records.
TRENTON -- An attorney for a former Port Authority official charged in the George Washington Bridge case last week said he had issued a subpoena for Gov. Christie's phone, among other things.
On Monday, Christie characterized the development as a fight between prosecutors and the defendants -- Bridget Anne Kelly, the governor's former deputy chief of staff, and Bill Baroni, former deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.
"Given my time as a prosecutor, I don't get in between those fights," Christie, a former U.S. attorney, told reporters Monday. "Let them fight it out. Let the court decide what happens. Doesn't matter to me."
It's actually a fight between defense attorneys and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, the law firm representing the governor's office. Gibson Dunn on Friday moved to quash parts of the subpoena.
Baroni's attorney said he wanted to conduct a forensic analysis of Christie's phone. Christie exchanged, and later deleted, text messages with a top aide on a day in December 2013 when Port Authority personnel were testifying before a legislative committee that was investigating the lane closures, the panel said. The committee reviewed Christie's phone records, as well as those of the aide, Regina Egea, who headed the unit that oversaw the Port Authority and later became the governor's chief of staff. Egea also deleted the messages.
Christie said he turned his phone over "right after Bridgegate."
"It's in the hands of the government, as far as I know. I don't know exactly who physically has it but I turned it over in response to requests from the government," Christie said.
"As I've said before," Christie added, "we cooperated in every way possible."
Kelly and Baroni are charged with conspiring to jam traffic at the George Washington Bridge in September 2013 in an effort to retaliate against a local mayor who didn't endorse Christie for reelection that year.
They have pleaded not guilty. David Wildstein, a former Port official, pleaded guilty last year and is cooperating with the government.
Christie hasn't been accused of wrongdoing.