Indicted ex-official seeks dismissal in Bridgegate case

NEWARK, N.J. - Two former allies to Gov. Christie continued to fight criminal charges in the George Washington Bridge lane-closure case Thursday, and one defense attorney said he had issued subpoenas requesting the personal phones of the Republican governor and some of his former top aides.

Appearing in federal court for oral arguments, an attorney for Bill Baroni, a former Christie appointee at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, told a judge that his client had been deprived of due process and the charges should therefore be dismissed.

Attorney Michael Baldassare told U.S. District Judge Susan D. Wigenton that the federal government had improperly indicted Baroni without reviewing text messages exchanged between Christie and a former top aide, Regina Egea, that both said they had deleted.

The text messages were exchanged in December 2013 while Port Authority personnel testified before a legislative committee investigating the lane closures, according to phone records reviewed by the panel.

Baldassare also said prosecutors should have reviewed emails between David Wildstein, a former Port Authority official who has pleaded guilty in the case, and Michael Drewniak, Christie's former press secretary.

Egea, Drewniak, and Christie have not been accused of wrongdoing.

Baroni has issued subpoenas to Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, the law firm representing the governor's office, to obtain the phones and messages, Baldassare said.

"I want the governor's phone," Baldassare told reporters after the 90-minute hearing, literally taking a reporter's cellphone to demonstrate his intentions.

Attorney Randy Mastro of Gibson Dunn did not return a request for comment.

aseidman@phillynews.com

856-779-3846@AndrewSeidman