The New Jersey state assemblyman leading the investigation of the September lane closures on the George Washington Bridge said it was “unbelievable” that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R-N.J.) was never told about the issue by his aides.
Christie last week fired a senior aide over the bridge scandal but insisted he had no firsthand knowledge of the decision to close the bridge lanes that created a traffic catastrophe in Fort Lee, N.J.
{mosads}State Rep. John Wisniewski (D-N.J.), who is leading the assembly’s bridge investigation as a transportation panel chair, said on CBS’s “Face the Nation” he was skeptical Christie’s aides never told him about the decision to close the bridge lanes or the discussions afterward revealed in emails released this week.
He noted Christie’s aide who was fired last week, deputy chief of staff Bridget Anne Kelly, was with Christie the day she sent the email saying it was “time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee.”
“This senior aide who was with him that day, who sent the order, never once communicated with him? It’s unbelievable,” Wisniewski said.
Wisniewski said that in the midst of the governor’s 2012 reelection campaign, there was no way that Christie’s aides wouldn’t have told him about the problems arising.
“I don’t think it’s possible for all these people to be involved and know, and the governor to have absolutely no communication,” he said.
Wisniewski acknowledged that the investigation had not turned up any evidence in emails or documents directly tying Christie to the scandal, but he also said that the assembly’s investigation remains in its early stages.