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Christie brushes aside report bridge scandal figure to plead guilty

Gov. Christie said Wednesday that he didn't think a report that a former ally was set to enter a guilty plea in a federal investigation of the George Washington Bridge lane-closure scandal involves him.

Gov. Christie, in New Brunswick to sign two drug-abuse bills, addresses a news conference. He said reports of a plea in the George Washington Bridge lane closures would not involve him, and defended the sending of state troopers to Baltimore. (MEL EVANS / Associated Press)
Gov. Christie, in New Brunswick to sign two drug-abuse bills, addresses a news conference. He said reports of a plea in the George Washington Bridge lane closures would not involve him, and defended the sending of state troopers to Baltimore. (MEL EVANS / Associated Press)Read more

Gov. Christie said Wednesday that he didn't think a report that a former ally was set to enter a guilty plea in a federal investigation of the George Washington Bridge lane-closure scandal involves him.

At a news conference in New Brunswick, N.J., Christie said he had just seen a Bloomberg News report that a former official with the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, David Wildstein, would plead guilty, and "I don't know exactly what's going to be done."

But, he added, "I don't think that has anything much to do with me."

Bloomberg reported that Wildstein would plead guilty to a criminal information, but said that it was unclear what charges would be involved.

An information typically is used by federal authorities in plea agreements with uncharged defendants.

The news outlet, citing a "person with knowledge of the matter," had reported that Wildstein would enter a plea Thursday in federal court in Newark, but later revised its story to say the plea could come as early as Friday.

A spokesman for U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman declined to comment Wednesday.

Asked whether he has had any contact with the U.S. Attorney's Office since meeting with prosecutors at the governor's mansion, Christie said he hadn't. ABC News reported earlier this year that a meeting between Christie and prosecutors took place in December.

Christie, who is considering running for president in 2016, has denied any role in the lane closures.

On whether he thought the legal outcome of the investigation was likely to be an exoneration, Christie said Wednesday, "This is all speculation based upon a four-line story in Bloomberg, so I don't know."

"I don't expect that anything's going to be different than what I said on Jan. 9, because nothing's been different than what I said on Jan. 9," he said, referring to his January 2014 news conference after the disclosure that an aide had sent an e-mail calling for "some traffic problems in Fort Lee."

The disclosure propelled the lane-closure controversy into a scandal.

Christie fired the author of that e-mail, Bridget Anne Kelly, a deputy chief of staff, and cut ties with his two-time campaign manager, Bill Stepien, whose name also surfaced in documents subpoenaed by legislators. Wildstein had stepped down from his Port Authority position before the e-mail exchange became public.

The lane closures appeared to be set in motion on Aug. 13, 2013, when Kelly, then Christie's deputy chief of staff, sent the "traffic problems" e-mail to Wildstein, who responded: "Got it."

From Sept. 9 to 13, 2013, Port Authority staff closed two of the three lanes leading from Fort Lee, Bergen County, to the bridge into New York City, allegedly in response to orders from Wildstein, documents show.

Documents subpoenaed and made public by legislators show the Port Authority, at Wildstein's insistence, did not alert local officials in advance of the plan.

When Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich sought help and an explanation from the Port Authority for why the lanes were closed, Bill Baroni, another Christie appointee at the agency, ignored his messages, documents show.

Wildstein's attorney, Alan Zegas, did not return messages Wednesday seeking comment.

Wednesday's event - which involved Christie's signing two bills intended to bolster efforts to fight drug addiction - was the first time in months that the governor had taken questions at a news conference in New Jersey.

It also drew a small group of protesters, who gathered on the other side of a fence outside the New Brunswick Counseling Center, shouting and holding signs in protest of his sending state police to Baltimore to deal with riots there this week.

Christie didn't confront the hecklers. He said his decision to send 150 troopers and other personnel to Maryland on Tuesday, for an initial term of 72 hours, was in response to the governor's having declared a state of emergency in the city after a day of unrest.

He said his relationship with Gov. Larry Hogan, a Republican he supported while serving as chairman of the Republican Governors Association, was not the reason for his decision.

Christie also responded to Senate President Stephen Sweeney (D., Gloucester), who charged in a news conference Tuesday that Christie's presidential ambitions and travels had distracted him from the state's slow economic recovery.

"I'm here, and I'm available to talk any time they want to talk," Christie said.

The governor said Sweeney's statement that he would propose a tax hike on income above $1 million was "the real message out of yesterday."