Chris Christie allegedly knew about the scandalous bridge closure, court hears
The ‘Bridgegate’ scandal has haunted the governor and Donald Trump supporter
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Your support makes all the difference.New Jersey governor Chris Christie was told of the plan to shut down the George Washington Bridge to create traffic havoc for a Democratic mayor who had failed to endorse him, according to the figure who organised the closing.
Mr Christie has long denied being aware of the plan but the affair, nicknamed Bridgegate, has dogged him for three years and is credited with costing him a run at the White House.
He has been sucked back into the controversy this week as a key witness testified in a federal court case that he and a colleague "bragged" to Mr Christie about the lane closures as they were happening.
David Wildstein, a political appointee at the Port Authority in New York and New Jersey, said he and his boss, former Port Authority deputy executive director, Bill Baroni, had both executed the plan and informed the governor at the time in 2013.
He also claimed he had boasted of the closures because Bridget Anne Kelly, former top aide to Mr Christie, told them that the "governor is going to love this" during a planning meeting, as reported by Fox News.
Ms Kelly and Mr Baroni are on trial after being accused of plotting to cause large traffic jams in Fort Lee in retaliation against mayor Mark Sokolich, who failed to endorse the governor during his re-election campaign.
Mr Wildstein pleaded guilty in 2015 to conspiring to cause traffic gridlock.
Mr Christie has always denied knowledge of the plan, and claimed he was told at the time the bridge was blocked off to carry out a "traffic study".
He repeated his denial on Tuesday, following the latest revelations, as reported by the Associated Press.
"All kinds of stuff is going on up in a courtroom in Newark. I want to be really clear: I have not and will not say anything different than I've been saying since January 2014. No matter what is said up there, I had no knowledge prior to or during these lane realignments."
Mr Christie was once seen as the frontrunner for the 2016 Republican nomination, but dropped out of the primary race after New Hampshire. He has said the sandal affected his political fortunes.
He apologised for the bridge closure during a press conference at the time but blamed the "unacceptable conduct" of his "stupid" and "deceitful" staff.
"I terminated her [Kelly] appointment immediately, because she lied to me," he told reporters.
"I had no knowledge or involvement in this issue, in its planning or execution," he added. "And I am stunned by the abject stupidity shown here regardless of what the ultimate facts uncovered."
Mr Wildstein said in court that he had a "one constituent" rule.
"If it was good for governor Christie, it was good for us. If it was not good for governor Christie, then it was not good for us," he said, as reported by NJ.com.
Mr Christie said he supported Mr Trump as he thought he was "better" than former rivals Ted Cruz, Marco Rubio and John Kasich.
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