NJ Dem on Christie: The truth will come

A House Democrat from New Jersey on Thursday said he doesn’t believe that an aide to Gov. Chris Christie (R) devised the scheme to close lanes on the George Washington Bridge last year.

Rep. Bill Pascrell (D-N.J.) said he doubts Christie’s former deputy chief of staff, Bridget Anne Kelly, was the one who came up with the alleged plan to extract revenge on the mayor of Fort Lee, N.J.

{mosads}“If you think that she’s the engineer of all of this, I cannot believe that. He appointed every one of these individuals,” Pascrell, who represents Fort Lee, said Thursday on CNN after Christie held a press conference.

Emails obtained by media outlets on Wednesday appear to show that Kelly helped orchestrate a traffic jam on the bridge near Fort Lee, N.J., in September. The exchanges suggest she and others in Christie’s administration were acting in revenge against the town’s mayor, who didn’t endorse Christie in last year’s election.

Christie fired Kelly on Thursday and said he would prevent former campaign manager Bill Stepien, who was also involved, from becoming head of the state’s Republican Party.

Pascrell said he wrote a letter to Christie appointee Bill Baroni, who was then the deputy executive director of the Port Authority, in September questioning the lane closures. 

Read more from The Hill.