| Christie's Former Allies Found Guilty in Bridgegate Trial |
| Friday, 04 November 2016 12:54 |
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Racioppi writes: "Two former associates of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie were found guilty Friday in the George Washington Bridge lane-closure case where they were accused of blocking access lanes to the bridge that connects New York and New Jersey."
Christie's Former Allies Found Guilty in Bridgegate Trial04 November 16
A federal jury delivered the verdict against Bridget Anne Kelly and Bill Baroni after a six-week trial that exposed the underbelly of political operations by allies attached to the governor’s office. Kelly sat, sobbing, as the guilty verdicts on all seven counts rang out. Baroni showed little emotion. They are scheduled to be sentenced on Feb. 21. Soon after, Baroni’s attorney, Michael Baldassare, called the prosecution’s case a “disgrace” and lambasted the U.S. Attorney’s Office, saying prosecutors should have “had belief in their own case to charge powerful people and they did not.” But U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman, in response to questions during his own news conference outside the federal courthouse in Newark, said he only charged people where they had “evidence beyond a reasonable doubt” to convict. Both Baldassare and Michael Critchley, Kelly’s attorney, said they will appeal. The jury was in its fifth day considering the legal fates of Kelly, a former deputy chief of staff to Christie, and Baroni, once the governor’s top appointee at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. The two were accused of working with another former Port Authority official, David Wildstein, to reduce access lanes to the bridge in Fort Lee, N.J., over five mornings in September 2013 to send a message to the borough’s Democratic mayor, Mark Sokolich, for declining to endorse Christie, a Republican, for re-election. Wildstein pleaded guilty. Christie, from day one of the trial, became the central figure in the criminal case against Baroni and Kelly, as prosecutors and defense attorneys both painted the governor as having knowledge of the Bridgegate scheme and control over the people who carried it out. Baroni and Kelly were charged with misusing federally funded property, wire fraud and depriving residents of their constitutional right to travel freely in the town. Now guilty, they face the possibility of years in jail and fines totaling hundreds of thousands of dollars. Christie on Friday stuck to his story, saying that he had no knowledge of the scheme. “On January 9, 2014, I apologized to the people of New Jersey for the conduct exhibited by some members of my Administration who showed a lack of respect for the appropriate role of government and for the people we serve. Those people were terminated by me and today, the jury affirms that decision by also holding them responsible for their own conduct,” Christie said. “Like so many people in New Jersey, I’m saddened by this case and I’m saddened about the choices made by Bill Baroni, Bridget Kelly and David Wildstein. Today’s verdict does not change this for me. “But let me be clear once again, I had no knowledge prior to or during these lane realignments, and had no role in authorizing them,” he continued. “No believable evidence was presented to contradict that fact. Anything said to the contrary over the past six weeks in court is simply untrue." Reaction was swift from New Jersey politicians. “Nothing shocks me about New Jersey anymore,” said state Sen. Loretta Weinberg of Teaneck. “But it saddens me.” Speaking of Christie, Weinberg said, “I don’t care if he knew about it before, during or after. He set the stage. And other people unfortunately got suckered in.” The six week trial was full of political intrigue and competing versions of what actually occurred and why. Throughout it all, Christie was painted as “the constituency of one” who his aides sought to serve at any cost. The testimony exposed a culture of lies, fear and intimidation surrounding the governor’s office. Jurors heard how the resulting traffic jams were the worst seen in Fort Lee since the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks forced the complete shutdown of the bridge. Commuters, school buses, police cars, firetrucks and ambulances were stuck in what Sokolich described as "concrete gridlock."
"I was petrified of further retribution," Sokolich said during his testimony, explaining that he was particularly anxious about a billion-dollar redevelopment project in Fort Lee that he feared could get tied up if "they" wanted to punish him. Patrick Foye, the executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, testified that even after he ordered the reopening of the lanes on the fifth morning of the closures, Baroni tried to have the lanes shut down again. Baroni requested two meetings with Foye that morning of Sept. 13, 2013. Foye said he asked his chief of staff, John Ma, to act as a witness at the first meeting, held in Foye's office, because "I thought something weird and terribly problematic had happened and I wanted John, who I trust implicitly, to be in the room and to hear the same thing I did." Wildstein, over six full days of questioning by attorneys, described a culture under Christie that demands loyalty and doled out punishment to those who did not back the governor or fall in line with his agenda. Under questioning, Wildstein acknowledged working with the governor's office to craft and approve statements to the media and, at other times, to intimidate. As the trial closed this week, defense lawyers sought to persuade Judge Susan D. Wigenton to declare a mistrial after it became clear that the jury would not have to consider those motives in the case — only whether Baroni and Kelly intentionally conspired to close the lanes to the bridge. Wigenton did not respond to that motion for the full mistrial but did seal closed-door proceedings from Wednesday because their “disclosure may complicate the court’s efforts to ensure a fair trial,” she wrote. Kelly’s attorney Michael Critchley, in a news conference after the verdict, said that Kelly will be appealing the verdict. |
wo former aides to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie were convicted Friday of 