Fort Lee lane closure scandal

Fort Lee (highlighted in yellow) with George Washington Bridge marked as I-95 over the Hudson River to Manhattan, New York City

The Fort Lee lane closure scandal, also known as the George Washington Bridge lane closure scandal or Bridgegate, is a U.S. political scandal in which a staff member and certain political appointees of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie have been shown to have conspired to create traffic jams in Fort Lee, New Jersey, starting at a New York-bound, upper-level, toll plaza entrance to the George Washington Bridge. The problems began on Monday, September 9, 2013, after two of three toll lanes for this entryway were closed to traffic from Fort Lee and surrounding communities prior to the morning rush hour and reallocated to the main traffic from state and interstate expressways, resulting in massive back-ups on local streets over the course of five days. The disruption was apparently created for political retribution, but the precise target or motivation remains unclear.

A senior Christie adviser, as well as his two senior appointees to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (which manages the bridge traffic), were alleged to have covered up these actions before, during, and after initiating the toll lane closures. Other senior staff/advisers in his governor's office and at the Port Authority were alleged to have been involved in condoning or making efforts to minimize or obfuscate public disclosures as the scandal developed.

Local area officials and emergency services officers, as well as the general public, were not notified of the lane closures. Fort Lee officials declared the unannounced closures a threat to public safety, noting multiple cases in which emergency services responses had been delayed, and said that schools had been disrupted by the delayed arrivals of students and teachers who had been caught in the traffic jams.

The local-access lanes were reopened during the morning rush hour on Friday, September 13, by order of Port Authority Executive Director Patrick "Pat" Foye (an appointee of Andrew Cuomo, the Democratic New York Governor), who stated that the Port Authority's procedure protocols had been subverted without his knowledge and that he believed the closures were unlawful.

Several of Christie's appointees and aides either resigned or were forced out as investigations into the closures intensified.

David Wildstein, on whose direct orders the traffic lanes had been closed, and Bill Baroni, who had told the New Jersey Assembly Transportation Committee that the closures had only been for a traffic study, resigned following sworn testimony by Foye and other Port Authority officials that the two men had violated protocols and had sought to hide their plans for the lane closings from Fort Lee and other officials. Bridget Anne Kelly, Christie's deputy chief of staff, who had e-mailed Wildstein advising him that it was "time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee", was fired by Christie, who said she had not been forthcoming with him about her involvement in the closures. Christie withdrew support for his close political adviser and election campaign manager, Bill Stepien, to become the state Republican Party chair since Christie indicated that he was "disturbed by the tone and behavior and attitude of callous indifference that was displayed in the e-mails" by Stepien in the aftermath of the lane closures. Stepien had made a derogatory remark about Fort Lee's mayor in one those e-mails.

One theory, frequently cited from the beginning of the controversy as to why the lanes were closed, was that it was political retribution against Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich, a Democrat, for not endorsing Christie, a Republican, in the 2013 gubernatorial election. Investigators are also examining other possible motives, such as whether the closures were intended to affect a major real estate development project, which was a top priority for Sokolich, that was underway at the Fort Lee bridge access point.

Background

George Washington Bridge over the Hudson River, looking west from Manhattan to Fort Lee and the Palisades

Main articles: George Washington Bridge and Port Authority of New York and New Jersey

The George Washington Bridge, a double-decked toll bridge, is the busiest motor-vehicle bridge in the world. It carries Interstate 95 and U.S. Route 1/9 over the Hudson River between Fort Lee in Bergen County, New Jersey and northern Manhattan. The north end of the heavily traveled New Jersey Turnpike, part of Interstate 95, is coterminous with the bridge up to the state line with New York. Also leading to the bridge in New Jersey are U.S. Route 46 (coterminous with U.S. Route 1/9 up to the state line with New York), U.S. Route 9W (final approach via surface streets), N.J. Route 4, and the Palisades Interstate Parkway.

There is a toll to go from New Jersey to New York. There are a total of 29 operating toll lanes, spread among three toll plazas, for the dual-level bridge. At the main toll plaza for the upper level, there are twelve toll lanes and a Fort Lee entrance at Martha Washington Way (also called Park Avenue). During rush hours, for the past 30 years or longer, the three lanes located farthest to the right (south end of the toll plaza) are ordinarily reserved for local traffic entering from Fort Lee and the surrounding communities. This local traffic is segregated by movable traffic cones from the heavier traffic of the major highways. There are other Fort Lee street entrances, which do not have dedicated toll lanes, to the lower and upper levels of the bridge.

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey is run by a twelve-member Board of Commissioners, which includes a chairman. Each state's governor, with the approval of that state's senate, appoints six members to the Board over time, with the members' terms staggered. A governor may veto the acts of that state's board members. Several other positions at the Port Authority are appointed by the governors; by tradition, the top two executives are appointed by the governors.

Chris Christie, a Republican, was first elected Governor of New Jersey in November 2009 and re-elected in November 2013. During his first term, he appointed Bill Baroni as deputy executive director of the Port Authority. David Wildstein, a local politician and political blogger who had known Christie during high school, was hired by Baroni with Christie's approval in May 2010. As director of interstate capital projects, Wildstein was New Jersey's second highest executive at the Port Authority, and often substituted for Baroni at major meetings.

From the spring of 2013 onward, Matt Mowers, regional political director for Christie's re-election campaign, met regularly with Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich, a Democrat, and asked several times for his endorsement of Christie for governor. Sokolich had initially said that he would consider endorsing Christie, but ultimately supported State Senator Barbara Buono, Christie's Democratic opponent in the election.

Key people

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie

Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich

Entity	Person	Role	Notes
Port Authority
	Bill Baroni	Deputy Executive Director of the Port Authority (Appointed by Christie)	Resigned on December 13, 2013; as supervisor of David Wildstein, he has been accused of collaborating in the planning and trying to cover up the toll lane closures.
	Patrick "Pat" Foye	Executive Director of the Port Authority (Appointed by Governor of New York Andrew Cuomo)	Authored e-mail critical of closure and ordered re-opening of the local toll lanes on September 13, 2013.
	David Samson	Chairman of the Port Authority Board of Commissioners (Appointed by Christie)	Was involved in addressing the aftermath, as shown in a series of subpoenaed written communications.
	David Wildstein	Director of Interstate Capital Projects at the Port Authority (Appointed by Christie; worked under Baroni)	Resigned on December 13, 2013 since he planned and covered up the toll lane closures; gave direct orders to Port Authority staff to implement the toll lane closures and to make no disclosures to Fort Lee officials and the public.
Office of the Governor
	Chris Christie	Governor of New Jersey	Claimed no direct knowledge about his aides' involvement until he read news on January 8, 2014, based on subpoenaed communications; authorized an internal investigation in Dec 2013 that purportedly showed no involvement by his staff.
	Michael Drewniak	Press Secretary to Christie	Was involved in addressing the aftermath and media inquiries at the governor's office and some at the Port Authority, as shown in subpoenaed written communications.
	Regina Egea	Director of the Authorities Unit to Christie	Received the Foye e-mail on September 13, 2013; was scheduled to replace O'Dowd if his nomination to State Attorney General was confirmed by the New Jersey Senate.
	Bridget Anne Kelly	Deputy Chief of Staff for Legislative and Intergovernmental Affairs to Christie	Authored August 13, 2013, e-mail to Wildstein: "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee"; fired by Christie on January 9, 2014.
	Charlie McKenna	Chief Counsel to Christie	Ran Dec 2013 investigation into Governor's Office involvement (with O'Dowd); became director of NJSDA that month and was replaced by Christopher Porrino; purportedly the "Charlie" in subpoenaed texts and e-mails.
	Kevin O'Dowd	Chief of Staff to Christie	Ran Governor's Office investigation (with McKenna); nominated in December 2013 for State Attorney General; January confirmation hearing was postponed due to potential conflict since he ran Christie's investigation.
	Bill Stepien	Christie's political consultant and election campaign manager (including governor elections in 2009 and 2013); Former Deputy Chief of Staff to Christie (prior to Fort Lee scandal events)	Removed by Christie on January 8, 2014, as political adviser, and nominee for Republican Party State Chairman for New Jersey, due to his comments about the aftermath based on subpoenaed communications.
State and Federal Investigators
	Paul J. Fishman	United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey	Opened an inquiry in January 2014; in 2009, sworn into his position, which had been held by Christie in 2008.
	Reid Schar	Special counsel to a joint special investigative committee for the New Jersey Legislature	To assist the committee in the legal aspects of their investigation; Jenner & Block, Schar's law firm, represented Assembly Democrats in New Jersey's legislative redistricting battles of 2011 and 2001.
	Loretta Weinberg	Co-chair of a joint special investigative committee for the New Jersey Legislature	State Senate majority leader (Democrat); On January 27, 2014, the New Jersey Senate and Assembly voted to create a joint committee in order to take over the investigation from the Assembly Transportation Committee.
	John Wisniewski	Co-chair of a joint special investigative committee for the New Jersey Legislature and chair of Assembly Transportation Committee	Deputy speaker and Democratic member of the Assembly; Transportation Committee began hearings in November 2013 and obtained subpoenaed documents that began to identify key figures and their actions in the toll lane closures and alleged cover-up.

Events

During the week of August 4, 2013, Christie met with David Samson, Christie's appointed chairman of the Board of Commissioners of the Port Authority. The deputy speaker of the New Jersey Assembly, John Wisniewski, who, as chair of the Assembly Transportation Committee had been leading the Assembly's investigation into the closures, alleged that David Wildstein, the Christie appointee who ordered the closures, must have believed the meeting was related to the lane closures, because a reference to the meeting was included in the subpoenaed documents Wildstein submitted in which all information not pertaining to the Fort Lee lane closures had been redacted.

On August 13, Bridget Anne Kelly, the deputy chief of staff to Christie, sent an eight-word e-mail to David Wildstein, a senior official at the Port Authority with close ties to Christie, that read, "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee." Wildstein responded to Kelly's e-mail: "Got it."

On September 6, Wildstein instructed George Washington Bridge manager, Robert Durando, not to tell anyone in Fort Lee about the upcoming closure, not even the police. When he questioned the order, which he thought was "odd" since he had never been instructed in his 35-year career not to tell host town officials about an event that would disrupt traffic, Wildstein told him "it would impact the study" if people knew and Wildstein "wanted to see what would naturally happen".

On September 6, Wildstein sent an e-mail to Kelly informing her that Governor Christie had approved $60,000 to fund a traffic study for the city of Springfield in Union County. The Democratic mayor of Springfield, David Amlen, did not endorse Christie for reelection and was not informed of the approval of their requested traffic study until after Christie had won re-election.

Closure

Beginning on Monday, September 9, 2013, two of the three dedicated toll lanes at one of the Fort Lee entrances to the upper level of the George Washington Bridge were closed to local use, and were reallocated to the main highway traffic, on orders from David Wildstein without notification of Fort Lee government and police officials. In an area that normally experiences a great deal of traffic, the lane closings caused a significant increase in traffic congestion. This led to major delays for school transportation and police and emergency responses within Fort Lee, both during and after the peak hours of travel, starting on the first day of the school year.

At 8:32 a.m. on September 9, a 9-1-1 call was placed requesting emergency medical services for Florence Genova of Fort Lee. According to the Fort Lee emergency medical services coordinator, traffic jams delayed paramedic response times. Mrs. Genova subsequently died of cardiac arrest. Her daughter told The New York Times that she "wants to stay out of it. It's politics". She noted her mother's advanced age (91) and opined that "it was just her time".

In at least one instance, emergency medical workers were forced to leave their ambulance and respond to a call for assistance on foot because traffic congestion was so heavy. Emergency responders also reported being delayed nearly one hour in rendering assistance to a man experiencing chest pains.

Within hours of the closure, various officials at the Port Authority were being told that the traffic delays posed a threat to public safety. At 9:29 a.m., Matthew Bell, a special assistant to Bill Baroni, e-mailed Baroni informing him of "urgent matter of public safety in Fort Lee". Fort Lee borough administrator Peggy Thomas e-mailed the Port Authority's director of government and community relations, Tina Lado, with her concerns, noting that police and emergency departments received no advance notice of the closures. At 11:24 a.m., Lado e-mailed both David Wildstein and Bill Baroni informing them that due to the closures, police and ambulances were having difficulty responding to emergencies. That e-mail noted two specific incidents: a missing child (later found) and a cardiac arrest. These safety warnings were reportedly ignored.

In a September 10 text message subpoenaed in the investigation, an unknown person, whose name is redacted for unknown reasons, responded to Wildstein: "Is it wrong that I'm smiling." Wildstein wrote in response "No." The person replied "I feel badly about the kids. I guess" (referring to school bus delays). Wildstein responded "They are the children of Buono voters," referring to Barbara Buono, Christie's Democratic opponent in the November election. Ryan Lizza, Washington correspondent for The New Yorker claimed to have uncovered evidence purportedly showing that the "I'm smiling" individual was Bridget Kelly.

In other communications, officials used an ethnic pejorative to refer to the Fort Lee mayor Mark Sokolich. In an e-mail from Wildstein responding to Bill Stepien, he stated "It will be a tough November for this little Serbian", derogatorily referring to Sokolich, who is Croatian-American. Baroni referred to "Serbia" in text messages in another apparent reference to Mayor Sokolich. Sokolich told The Huffington Post: "That slight is offensive to me, and it's offensive to me of everyone of Serbian background. If I were Serbian, I would be absolutely, positively appalled by it." The Serbian remarks received the attention of Serbian and Croatian media, and was commented upon by the Serbian government's Office for Cooperation with the Diaspora and Serbs in the Region.

On September 9, Deputy Chief of Staff Kelly e-mailed David Wildstein and asked about his response, if any, to Fort Lee Mayor Sokolich. Wildstein responded: "Radio silence. His name comes right after Mayor Fulop [of Jersey City]."

On September 11, Robert Durando indicated in a Port Authority e-mail that, if the automated toll lanes were closed permanently in favor of one manned lane for local traffic, it would be "very expensive" since annual toll-collector costs would increase approximately $600,000. This would have covered overtime, as well as stationing reserve employees when a scheduled toll collector was not able to work. He indicated there would be additional, but still to be determined costs, for Port Authority police due to their coverage of traffic for a greatly extended rush hour.

On September 12, Port Authority engineers indicated that reported delays for local traffic greatly exceeded any time savings for the major highway traffic based on reported information for vehicle travel times on Interstate 95 and local traffic counts from that week. In an internal PowerPoint presentation, it was estimated that the extra daily morning rush hour time, 2,800 vehicle-hours, endured by local traffic on a typical day greatly outweighed time savings, 966 vehicle-hours, for the I-95 traffic.

On September 12, Fort Lee Mayor wrote to Baroni that "many members of the public have informed me that the Port Authority Police Officers are advising commuters [...] that this recent traffic debacle is the result of a decision that I, as the Mayor, recently made."

Re-opening and immediate aftermath

On September 13, 2013, Patrick Foye, the executive director of the Port Authority and an appointee of New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, ordered that the lanes be reopened in a strongly worded e-mail to senior Port Authority officials and staff, including Bill Baroni and David Samson. In the e-mail, Foye called the decision to close the lanes "hasty and ill-advised", stated that the decision violated policy and long-standing custom at the Port Authority, and that he believed that closing the lanes "violates Federal Law and the laws of both States." Foye asked his spokesman to get the word out. Upon learning this, Baroni attempted to prevent any disclosure in order to keep the public in the dark. Additionally, Baroni forwarded the e-mail to Regina Egea, Christie's Director of the authorities unit overseeing the Port Authority, three hours after it was sent by Foye.

During and after the bridge closures, "hundreds of pages of e-mails and internal documents" showed "how Christie loyalists inside the Port Authority worked to orchestrate a cover-up after traffic mayhem" in Fort Lee. In September, as more reporters began asking about the George Washington Bridge problems, officials conferred on how to respond. On September 13, The Record reported the outrage commuters were expressing toward the Port Authority following days of long, inbound delays, and Fort Lee officials' unsuccessful efforts to get an explanation. Then on September 16, a Wall Street Journal reporter asked Port Authority spokesman Coleman about what had occurred after some Journal editors had been in traffic the previous week. "Coleman passed the query up the chain of command" and Wildstein forwarded it to Baroni, commenting "I call bullshit on this." Further inquiries were directed by Coleman to Baroni and Wildstein, asking how they wanted the Port Authority to respond, and Wildstein forwarded one of these inquiries to Christie's press secretary, Michael Drewniak. Coleman also wrote to Baroni and Wildstein, "I will not respond unless instructed to do so."

On September 17, Wildstein informed Baroni that he had received a call from Wall Street Journal reporter Tedd Mann. "Jesus", Baroni replied, "Call [Christie Press Secretary Michael] Drewniak".

The emails show efforts by Christie appointees in the Port Authority and in Trenton to respond to the aftermath and media inquiries for the toll lane closures. The participants included Christie appointees Baroni, Wildstein, and Port Authority Chairman David Samson, as well as Michael Drewniak, Governor Christie's chief spokesman, and Maria Comella, Communications Director. In a September 18 e-mail, Samson warned that Foye is "playing in traffic, made a big mistake" in response to a leak to The Wall Street Journal for their September 17 story citing unnamed Port Authority officials as saying the decision to close the toll lanes had caused tensions within the bi-state agency.

On October 9, Philippe Danielides, a senior adviser to David Samson, e-mailed Wildstein a daily news summary and asked "Has any thought been given to writing an op-ed or providing a statement about the GWB study? Or is the plan just to hunker down and grit our way through it?" Wildstein replied "Yes and yes" and forwarded these e-mails to Baroni. Wildstein sought advice from Michael Drewniak, Governor Christie's press secretary, with the two meeting in person on December 4. On December 6, Wildstein announced he would resign at the end of the year, saying the response to the traffic lanes closure had become "a distraction". At a December 13 press conference, Christie announced the immediate resignations of Baroni and Wildstein.

Investigations

The first story to bring politics into the mix about the lane closures was reported by The Record's John Cichowski in his September 13, Road Warrior column that there was speculation that Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich was punished "either for failing to endorse Governor Christie's election bid or for pushing through a $500 million, 47-story high-rise housing development near the bridge, or for failing to support the Port's last toll hike."

On September 17, Ted Mann of The Wall Street Journal wrote a story about what could have possibly prompted the Port Authority to close toll lanes to local traffic without public notifications. Citing anonymous sources, he reported that "the decision to close the traffic lanes caused tension" since "the lane closures came as a surprise to some high-ranking officials at the bi-state agency." He indicated that the toll lanes were reopened to local traffic based on an order from Executive Director Patrick Foye, "who argued that the abrupt shift in traffic patterns caused a threat to public safety and should have been advertised to the public ahead of time."

On October 1, his newspaper report was the first to address the contents and quote some of the text from Foye's September 13, 2013 e-mail to Port Authority officials ordering the toll lanes to be reopened, while denouncing the closures as an "abusive decision" and pledging to investigate "how PA process was wrongfully subverted and the public interest damaged" without Foye's knowledge. The e-mail indicated that there were potential violations of state and federal laws. Port Authority insiders disputed that there was a traffic study. All of this reinforced the reported rumors that the toll lanes might have been closed by political surrogates of Governor Chris Christie, a Republican, as an alleged act of political retribution against Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich, a Democrat, for not endorsing Christie in his 2013 re-election campaign. The Record, The Wall Street Journal, and other news media continued to investigate the matter in comprehensive reporting over the next few months, using sources and requests for public records.

The scandal broke in full on January 8, 2014, with an online story by The Record that Governor Christie's deputy chief of staff Bridget Kelly was involved in the planning of the toll lane closures. That revelation catapulted the story into a national political event. The Record scoop continued with details of the dialogues in the troves of e-mails and texts supplied to the New Jersey Assembly Transportation Committee by David Wildstein. The Record described "vindictive lane closures" that were intended to cause massive traffic jams in Fort Lee. Related news with quotes from the e-mails and texts were subsequently published the same day in other news media.

During his January 9 press conference about the scandal, Governor Christie cited The Record as breaking the pivotal story on January 8. According to The New York Times, the e-mails discussing the lane closure "could represent evidence that government resources were used for political purposes, a potential crime". According to legal experts, federal prosecutors also could "examine whether the obstruction of interstate commerce on the bridge between New Jersey and New York" violated federal law, and either federal or state prosecutors also might "build a cover-up case, rather than one based on the traffic tie-ups themselves".

On January 17, Alan Zegas, Wildstein's attorney, indicated that his client would offer to shed light on the scandal on the condition that he is given immunity from prosecution from the relevant federal and state law enforcement agencies. There has not been any offer of immunity from the office of the United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey, which is reviewing the matter.

A joint legislative committee, New Jersey Legislative Select Committee on Investigation, was created on January 27 to take over investigations by the Assembly Transportation Committee and subsequent special investigative committees by the Assembly and Senate.

Assembly Transportation Committee investigation

On October 2, 2013, Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D-Middlesex), said that he would open an investigation with the Assembly Transportation Committee to determine whether or not the lane closures were politically motivated. The Port Authority announced it would conduct an internal review on October 16.

Subsequently, Wisniewski called a hearing on the closure for November 25, for which Bill Baroni attended on behalf of the Port Authority. Baroni, who was not sworn in to testify under oath, stated that David Wildstein had ordered the study to determine if closing two of the Fort Lee toll lanes, and assigning them to mainline traffic, would shorten delays for commuters from other parts of New Jersey. Baroni argued that it was unfair that Fort Lee drivers occupied three out of the 12 lanes on the upper level, despite being only 4.5% of all traffic. Committee members pointed out that 4.5% was based on the number of E-ZPass users from Fort Lee that use all approaches to the bridge, and that vehicles from many other towns, besides Fort Lee, use that Fort Lee entrance. He admitted the actual percentage of vehicles, which utilize that Fort Lee entrance, could be higher than 4.5% of overall traffic, and also failed to mention that there are actually 29 operating toll lanes for the bridge when comparing the three dedicated toll lanes for this entrance.

Baroni stated that with the reduction in Fort Lee toll lanes, traffic data showed that the mainline traffic travel times in the express lanes' approach to the bridge were about four minutes faster on two days. He apologized for what he acknowledged was the agency's failure to properly communicate with local officials and the public in advance of this project, unlike the past history regarding other Port Authority projects. Following the hearing, Wisniewski called the closures at best "clumsy and ham-handed" and at worst "political mischief by a political appointee and another political appointee that they did not make available for testimony", referring to Wildstein's non-attendance.

On November 25, the same day Baroni made his presentation, the following exchange occurred between Baroni and Wildstein, according to the initially subpoenaed documents from Wildstein:

Wildstein: You did great

Baroni: Trenton feedback?

Wildstein: Good

[Redacted message]

Baroni: Just good? Shit

Wildstein: No I have only texted brudget [Bridget Anne Kelly] and Nicole they were VERY happy

Wildstein: Both said you are doing great

Wildstein: Charlie said you did GREAT

Wildstein turned over heavily redacted documents in response to the subpoena.

The redacted message above was subsequently reported to be:

Wildstein: O'Toole statement ready

referring to state Senator Kevin O'Toole's statement released that day to the media, echoing various talking points from Baroni's presentation, including the purported "traffic study". All of this suggested that O'Toole had prior communications with Baroni and/or Wildstein.

According to a Republican source, it appeared that "Nicole" refers to Nicole Crifo (then senior counsel to the authorities unit in the Governor's office), who was served in the February 10 round of subpoenas, rather than Nicole Davidman Drewniak (Finance Director for Christie's 2013 election campaign and wife of Michael Drewniak), who was served with the round of subpoenas due February 3. In January 2014, Crifo quietly took a job in the Port Authority as chief of staff to Bill Baroni's replacement as deputy director, Deborah Gramiccioni.

On December 9, Wisniewski subpoenaed Foye and career Port Authority staffers to testify under oath about the closure. Robert Durando, George Washington Bridge manager, indicated that he feared retaliation if he did not follow Wildstein's orders to close two toll lanes to local traffic and not notify local officials or the public about these changes. Durando and Cedrick Fulton, director of tunnels, bridges, and terminals, both stated that they were personally told by Wildstein that he would notify Foye of the change. Foye indicated that he was unaware of any traffic study until he ordered its termination on September 13, and blamed Wildstein for the toll lane changes, while believing Baroni was involved in the planning. When Wildstein called Fulton on September 6 to inform him that the lane closures would begin on September 9, Fulton explained that he thought that was unusual since planning for traffic disruptions on major facilities typically starts years in advance. He stated that he told Wildstein, “This will not end well”, due to expected traffic problems.

Redacted documents were turned over under a subpoena to investigators of the Assembly Transportation Committee and those documents were turned over to The New York Times and other news media. On January 8, 2014, The Star-Ledger, The Record, The New York Times, and other news media published e-mails and text messages tying Christie's deputy chief of staff, Bridget Kelly, to the closure. The content of the released communications indicated that the lane closures were ordered with the knowledge that they would cause a massive traffic jam. Christie released a statement later that day denying knowledge of the scandal, rebuking Kelly for her role in the lane closure event, and vowing that "people will be held responsible for their actions" in the affair.

A Republican member of the Assembly committee complained that the Republican members had not been given sufficient time to review the subpoenaed documents in advance of hearing testimony: "Allowing Republican committee members less than 24 hours to review more than 900 pages of information is a disservice to the bipartisan committee process.... As chairman, he [Wisniewski] should be impartial and provide committee members, regardless of their political affiliation, a reasonable opportunity to review documents he has had access to for weeks".

On January 9, 2014, David Wildstein, who appeared with his attorney, Alan Zegas, refused to testify before the New Jersey Assembly Transportation Committee, invoking the right against self-incrimination in the federal and New Jersey constitutions. The committee voted to hold Wildstein in contempt, asserting that the right against self-incrimination did not apply in such a hearing.

State Assemblyman Vincent Prieto, a speaker-elect of the Assembly scheduled to be sworn in as speaker on January 14, announced on January 11 a special session of the Assembly to be held on January 16 to debate reauthorization of the legislative subpoena in order to further the investigation. Preito stated: "The documents released this week related to the George Washington Bridge situation clearly show the need for a continued thorough investigation by the New Jersey General Assembly. Many questions remain unanswered about this threat to public safety and abuse of power". Wisniewski stated: "I do think laws have been broken. Public resources—the bridge, police officers—all were used for a political purpose, for some type of retribution, and that violates the law". He also raised the issue of the potential for Christie's impeachment if Christie was aware of his aides' actions. In doing so, Wisniewski called it "unbelievable" that Christie did not know anything about his aides' plans, stating: "It's hard to really accept the governor's statement that he knew nothing until the other morning".

Special Legislative Investigative Committees

On January 16, the New Jersey Assembly and Senate each created their own bi-partisan special investigative committees, which would coordinate with each other, to take over the investigation from the Assembly Transportation Committee. The Assembly committee hired Reid Schar as special counsel, who would assist in the investigation. He is a former assistant U.S. attorney from Illinois who assisted in the prosecution of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich.

The New Jersey Assembly re-authorized the legislative subpoena powers, which were immediately used to subpoena two organizations and 18 individuals (including Christie's appointees and aides listed in the Key Figures table above) in Christie's administration, his 2013 election campaign, and the Port Authority. Those receiving subpoenas were instructed to submit by February 3 all documents and communications, going back to September 1, 2012, related to the reassignment of the two toll lanes during the week of September 9, 2013, and any attempts to conceal the activities or reasons related to that incident. While Christie himself was not subpoenaed, his governor's office and 2013 campaign organization received subpoenas.

New Jersey Legislative Select Committee on Investigation

On January 21, Assemblyman Wisniewski and State Senate majority leader Loretta Weinberg, whose district includes Fort Lee, announced that the Senate and Assembly committees were being merged into a bi-partisan joint investigative committee of 12 members, and that they would co-chair the New Jersey Legislative Select Committee on Investigation. While the committee initially focused on the Bridgegate scandal, it had the power to investigate other allegations against the Christie administration.

On January 24, the members of the bi-partisan committee were announced. It consisted of eight Assembly representatives, including five Democrats and three Republicans, and four Senators, including three Democrats and one Republican. At the time, 40% of the members of the New Jersey Legislature were Republican. Besides the two Democratic co-chairs, members included Assemblywoman Marlene Caride (D-Bergen), Assemblyman Michael Patrick Carroll (R-Morris), Senator Nia Gill (D-Essex), Senator Linda Greenstein (D-Middlesex), Assembly Majority Leader Louis Greenwald (D-Camden), Assemblywoman Amy Handlin (R-Monmouth), Assemblywoman Valerie Huttle (D-Bergen), Assemblywoman Holly Schepisi (R-Bergen), Assemblywoman Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-Mercer), and an unnamed Republican Senator. On January 27, both houses voted unanimously to combine the investigations, maintaining the partisan balance, and announced Kevin O'Toole's (R-Essex) inclusion, despite his mention in a December 5 e-mail from Wildstein to Michael Drewniak.

As a precautionary move, the new investigative committee re-issued subpoenas that had been sent earlier, with the requested records still due on the original deadline, February 3.

In a January 31 letter to the general counsel, Reid Schar, for the joint legislative committee, Kevin Marino, the attorney for Stepien, indicated that he would not submit anything in response to their subpoena and requested its withdrawal, citing his client's Fifth Amendment right and New Jersey common law privileges against self-incrimination, with regard to the criminal inquiry underway by the U.S. Attorney, and Fourth Amendment and New Jersey Constitution (Article I, paragraph 7) rights against unreasonable search and seizure. Wisniewski said the subpoena was perfectly sound, and that Schar would review the attorney’s objections and consider the committee's legal options. Michael Critchley, the attorney for Kelly, submitted a letter that his client would not comply with the subpoena based on similar claims.

On February 3, Wisniewski and Weinberg issued a statement, without details, that some responses to subpoenas had been received and that extensions for submissions had been granted to others. Mark Sheridan, an attorney for Christie's campaign organization, said it had been granted an extension while it awaited an opinion from the state Election Law Enforcement Commission, which on February 11 allowed the campaign to use existing funds and raise funds to pay its legal bills in response to the NJ Legislature and federal subpoenas for general evidence. It could not use those funds in response to any criminal investigations.

On February 10, the committee voted to reject the objections raised by the lawyers of Stepien and Kelly to not comply with the subpoenas for their records, and to compel Stepien and Kelly to produce all related documents, instructing special counsel Reid Schar to "take all necessary steps" to enforce the subpoenas. All four Republicans abstained in the vote. They claimed that they did not have enough time to review the legal arguments, including Fifth Amendment rights, presented in Schar's legal brief countering the lawyers' objections.

On the same day, the committee announced it was issuing 18 new subpoenas to individuals within the Governor's office and the Port Authority that also included new recipients, as well as the Governor's office itself and Christie's 2013 re-election campaign. The new recipients included assistants to Foye, Wildstein, Baroni, and Kelly. Other new recipients at the Port Authority included Christie appointee, Phillip Kwon, deputy general counsel, Christie appointee William "Pat" Schuber, a commissioner at the Port Authority, who had served in a variety of local, county, and state elected positions in New Jersey, and Steve Coleman, deputy director of media relations. One of the subpoenas was sent to the New Jersey State Police aviation unit for flight information records when Christie used a state helicopter during the toll lane closings. An agency spokesperson said that Christie had not used one to fly over the Fort Lee area during the lane closings. The subpoenas also sought information related to any dossiers compiled by Christie's re-election campaign and his Governor's office on Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich.

The subpoenas sought information for records from staff at the Port Authority and the Governor's office related to preparations for Baroni's presentation to the Assembly Transportation Committee's November 25, 2013 hearing. Wildstein's attorney had claimed that Wildstein was present during some of the times when Kwon, who attended the Assembly Transportation Committee hearing, helped prepare Baroni over several days for his presentation that day to the committee about a traffic study and other issues related to the local toll lane closures. A Port Authority spokesman stated: "Meeting with a witness prior to testimony is a routine function of any lawyer and any attempt to assign ulterior motives to this general practice is unwarranted." Kwon served as first assistant attorney general during Christie's first term as governor and previously worked for him in the U.S. Attorney General's office in New Jersey. He was also Christie's 2012 Supreme Court justice nominee, who was blocked by Democratic state legislative members.

One of the subpoenas sought documents from the PANYNJ related to toll increases for the tunnels and bridges and Christie's 2010 decision to cancel the Access to the Region's Core project, specifically with regard to projected cost overruns. It also requested the names of job candidates sent by Christie's office to the agency.

On February 19, it was reported that the co-chairs indicated that the committee would need to question Senator O'Toole about what he knew, including any communications with Baroni and/or Wildstein, prior to Baroni's November 25 presentation to the Assembly Transportation Committee. A previously redacted November 25 text message from Wildstein to Baroni indicated that O'Toole was ready with a statement, which was issued to the media, that echoed talking points from Baroni's same day presentation and attacked the Democrats investigating these issues. O'Toole followed up with an editorial in "The Record" that elaborated on these talking points and attacks. It raised further questions on whether O'Toole should continue to serve on the committee.

Port Authority's inspector general investigation

The Port Authority's inspector general opened an investigation on December 10, 2013.

U.S. Attorney investigation

U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman

On January 9, 2014, Paul J. Fishman, the United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey, opened a preliminary federal inquiry into matters related to the toll lane closures. Rebekah Carmichael, public affairs officer for the U.S. attorney's office, said in a statement: "The Port Authority Office of Inspector General has referred the matter to us, and our office is reviewing it to determine whether a federal law was implicated." Whether anyone will be federally prosecuted in the scandal is uncertain.

The U.S. Attorney, whose office did not identify who was served, began an official investigation and issued grand jury subpoenas for documents related to the Bridgegate scandal to various people and entities. Mark Sheridan, a partner with Patton Boggs, which had been retained to represent Christie's 2013 re-election campaign organization and the New Jersey Republican State Committee in connection with investigations into this scandal, stated on January 23 that both organizations had received subpoenas. The U.S. Attorney is being assisted in its investigation by the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

U.S. Senate inquiry

Senator Jay Rockefeller

On January 15, 2014, The (Newark) Star-Ledger reported that the United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation had opened its own inquiry into the closure. According to the paper, committee chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-West Virginia) had written Samson and Vice Chairman Scott Rechler in December 2013 to demand answers about how the Port Authority handled the closure and its aftermath. According to his letter, Rockefeller, who has long been critical about shortcomings in the Port Authority's operations, was concerned about what seemed to be evidence of "political appointees abusing their power to hamper interstate commerce and safety without public notice." It also stated that based on a review of recent testimony before the New Jersey Assembly Transportation Committee, it appeared that there was no traffic study underway. Rockefeller had given the Port Authority until January 15 to submit answers to his committee's questions, and authority spokesman Paul Valens told The Star-Ledger that the authority had complied. Rockefeller also asked the United States Department of Transportation to conduct its own review of the incident.

The Port Authority's written response to Rockefeller's questions, signed by board secretary Karen Eastman, restated and summarized the December 9, 2013, testimony by Foye and two other Port Authority managers before the New Jersey Assembly Transportation Committee. It indicated that the closures had been ordered by Wildstein on September 6 despite various Port Authority engineers expressing their concerns, particularly about more traffic congestion on local streets and no advance notice to Fort Lee officials. Wildstein, the letter said, had ordered bridge officials not to notify Foye of the closures. It also revealed that the Port Authority's board had not approved Baroni's earlier presentation on November 25 before that committee that the closures were part of a traffic study. It showed that Port Authority's procedures for planning and internal notifications for any traffic study were not followed. However, the letter did not reveal any reason why the closures were ordered. It characterized the incident as "aberrational". Rockefeller declared that based on the Port Authority's response, there was "zero evidence" that a "legitimate" traffic study had been planned. He also said that the letter revealed the Port Authority had not followed its own procedures for lane closures.

Legal representation for key people and organizations

Person or Entity	Legal Representatives	Notes and Key Credentials
Port Authority
Bill Baroni	Michael B. Himmel, a partner at the New York and Roseland, New Jersey offices of Lowenstein Sandler	Himmel was the attorney for Solomon Dwek, who also worked as an informant in Operation Bid Rig III that brought down several New Jersey politicians
David Samson	Michael Chertoff, "senior of counsel" at the Washington, D.C. law firm Covington & Burling; Angelo J. Genova, senior partner, chairman, and co-founder of the Newark law firm Genova Burns Giantomasi Webster	Chertoff is a former U.S. Attorney of New Jersey (like Christie) and former Secretary of Homeland Security; Chertoff's consulting firm, The Chertoff Group, received a no-bid contract from the Port Authority to review its security and provided recommendations; Genova had served on the Port Authority's Board of Commissioners
David Wildstein	Alan L. Zegas, a criminal defense attorney, part of the small Chatham, New Jersey-based Law Offices of Alan L. Zegas
Office of the Governor
Christie's Office of the Governor	Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, including partner Randy M. Mastro, based in the firm's New York office	Hired in January 2014, after disclosure of subpoenaed documents from the New Jersey Assembly Transportation Committee, in order to aid in an internal investigation for the governor's office and respond to "appropriate" official inquiries
Bridget Anne Kelly	Michael Critchley, Sr., founder of the Roseland, New Jersey-based firm Critchley, Kinum & Vazquez	Replaced Walter F. Timpone, who cited a conflict of interest since he was serving as Christie's appointed vice-chairman of the New Jersey Election Law Enforcement Commission; Critchley broke an eight-year streak of successful political corruption convictions by the U.S. Attorney's Office in New Jersey when Ridgefield Mayor Anthony R. Suarez was found not guilty in 2010 of charges that he accepted a bribe
Bill Stepien	Kevin Marino, a principal and founder of Chatham, New Jersey-based Marino, Tortorella & Boyle
Other Persons or Organizations
Christie's 2013 re-election campaign	Patton Boggs, including partner Mark D. Sheridan, based initially at the firm's Newark office until that office closes, with Sheridan moving to the firm's new Florham Park, New Jersey office	Official name for re-election campaign was Chris Christie for Governor Inc.
New Jersey Republican State Committee	Patton Boggs, including partner Mark D. Sheridan	Patton Boggs also serves as general counsel for the Republican State Committee
Mark Sokolich	Timothy M. Donohue, a criminal defense attorney and partner at Arleo, Donohue & Biancamano, LLC, in West Orange, New Jersey	Mr. Donohue, to be paid by Fort Lee, has represented a number of public officials in state and federal jury trials. Mayor Sokolich acquiesced to the request by the borough attorney and council for this "prudent" arrangement as a contingency.

David Wildstein

On January 24, the Port Authority told Wildstein that they will not pay his legal bills since they contended the bills would not be covered according to its bylaws when there was fraud, malice, misconduct, or intentional wrongdoing. In a January 31 letter, his attorney, Alan Zegas, asked the Port Authority to reconsider paying Wildstein's legal bills since they had provided no specific reasons or evidence in regards to their contention. He also questioned their decision since the Port Authority was still reviewing whether to pay the legal bills of Bill Baroni, who had made statements during his November 25 hearing with the Assembly Transportation Committee that were contradicted by sworn testimony by Patrick Foye and other Port Authority officials at a December 9 hearing. The letter also raised questions about the accuracy of various statements by Christie about Wildstein and when Christie became aware of the lane closures.

Randy Mastro

On January 16, the Governor's office announced the hiring of law firm Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP to assist with its internal investigation, to bring an unbiased outside perspective to the inquiries, and that former prosecutor Randy Mastro would be the lead attorney. When six of the staff in the Governor's office requested extensions to a subpoena deadline, they likewise were represented by Mastro. Having one attorney acting in both roles (as the investigator and as the representative of some of the investigation subjects) presents the appearance of a conflict of interest. On February 19, Mastro (but not his firm) withdrew from representation of the Port Authority in a federal lawsuit regarding toll hikes, but potential conflicts reportedly remain.

Mastro requested interviews about the toll lane closures with Sokolich and Kelly, whose attorneys declined, and Wildstein.

Lawsuits

In most cases of government action causing traffic delays, lawsuits would not be possible. Under the concept of government immunity, governments are usually immune to lawsuits for their actions. However, such restrictions only apply to actions done in good faith, while the e-mails demonstrating the closure was intentional clearly showed bad faith. Secondly, under tort law, generally one can sue for personal injury or property damage, but not for economic loss, as many parties only tangentially related to a case could legitimately claim such losses. However, this restriction usually only applies to negligence, and does not apply if the plaintiff could show that the defendant knew that severe traffic jams would occur. New Jersey is also more open to economic loss claims than other states. Lawsuits related to the closures could be in the court system for years.

On January 9, 2014, Fort Lee attorney Rosemarie Arnold filed a federal lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of New Jersey, on behalf of six Bergen County residents, claiming that they were stuck in traffic, arrived late for work, lost pay, and in one case suffered a panic attack in connection with the traffic jams caused by the lane closures. The lawsuit alleges that the lane closures were the result of a civil conspiracy and "willful, wanton, arbitrary, and egregious official misconduct" by Christie, Kelly, Wildstein, and Baroni, who are named as defendants in the lawsuit. The Port Authority and State of New Jersey were also named as defendants. On January 20, Arnold filed an amended complaint to include a newspaper delivery company, as well as several other businesses for their lost revenue due to the lane closures, and added Bill Stepien as a defendant in the suit. The plaintiffs are seeking certification as a class action.

On January 13, six Bergen County taxicab companies filed a class action lawsuit in New Jersey Superior Court in Hackensack, claiming they lost money based on lost time and extra gas consumption, and suffered emotional harm since their cabs were stuck in traffic for more than two hours due to the toll lane closures. The lawsuit names Christie staff members, Bridget Kelly and Michael Drewniak, Port Authority managers, David Wildstein and Bill Baroni, and Christie's gubernatorial campaign, along with his campaign manager, Bill Stepien.

Christie's responses

Christie's public statements, and those made by the governor's office on his behalf, on the toll lane closures have been made as more information about the scandal became public.

December 2, 2013

At a press conference, Governor Christie said that Democrats were just playing politics by holding hearings into lane closures. "Just because [Rep.] John Wisniewski [D-Middlesex] is obsessed with this, and [Sen.] Loretta Weinberg, it just shows that they really have nothing to do," Christie said. Christie later credited the e-mail documents subpoenaed by the hearings as the first information he had that his staff was involved. When asked about the closure, Christie dismissively joked "I worked the cones, actually. Unbeknownst to everybody I was actually the guy out there, in overalls and a hat. You cannot be serious with that question."

Christie defended Baroni's claim of a traffic study, saying, "I do believe, and I told Chairman Samson this, that we should look at this policy because I don't know why one town gets three lanes. One lane? Maybe. Three lanes, for one town, I don't quite get it."

Purported call to Governor Cuomo of New York

On December 12, 2013, The Wall Street Journal reported that Christie was said to have called New York Governor Andrew Cuomo to complain about Patrick Foye, the executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and a Cuomo appointee, in an apparent attempt to shut down Foye's investigation of the lane closures. On December 13, 2013, Christie denied such a call, saying, "The story is categorically wrong. I did not have that conversation with Governor Cuomo in any way, shape or form." In his January 9, 2014 press conference, he also denied any such conversation. Heather Haddon of The Wall Street Journal still stood by the report on February 19.

December 13

At a press conference, Christie announced the immediate resignations of Baroni and Wildstein. Nevertheless, Christie stated the closure was "absolutely, unequivocally not" political retribution.

Christie added: "I've made it very clear to everybody on my senior staff that if anyone had any knowledge about this, they needed to come forward to me and tell me about it. And they've all assured me that they don't." Christie reported: "The chief of staff and chief counsel assured me they feel comfortable that we have all the information we need to have."

Christie then suggested that reviewing the policy for three toll lanes for Fort Lee with the related lane closures was a matter of fairness when he said, "I didn't know Fort Lee got three dedicated lanes until all this stuff happened, and I think we should review that entire policy because I don't know why Fort Lee needs three dedicated lanes to tell you the truth." However, members of the New Jersey Assembly Transportation Committee indicated at their November 25, 2013, hearing that the Fort Lee entrance has been used by an even greater number of commuters from the surrounding Bergen County towns. Port Authority officials, including Patrick Foye, confirmed that assessment in their sworn testimony at the December 9, 2013 committee hearing.

January 9, 2014

Christie apologized at a nearly two-hour press conference for the toll lane closures and said that he was "embarrassed and humiliated" by the behavior of his staff. Christie claimed he first learned of his staff's involvement via news media reports on January 8. The governor announced that he had fired Bridget Kelly, calling her "deceitful", claiming her lack of disclosure about her actions and e-mails caused him to mislead the public. Christie admonished his two-time campaign manager Bill Stepien and said he had asked Stepien to withdraw his name from the Republican State Party Chairman race, and to cease his consulting role for the Republican Governors Association. Christie promised that he and his staff would cooperate with any government investigations, including those by the New Jersey Legislature. When asked what he would do if subpoenaed to testify on the matter, Christie said, "I'm not going to speculate on that".

Christie stated: “I have had no contact with David Wildstein in a long time, a long time, well before the election.” Christie was re-elected Governor on November 5, 2013. During the third day of the closures, Christie, Wildstein, Samson and Baroni are photographed together on September 11, 2013 at the site of the World Trade Center during a commemoration of the 12th anniversary of the terrorist attacks.

In the press conference, Christie described his earlier investigations into whether his staff were involved, saying "I brought my senior staff together I think about four weeks ago tomorrow. And I put to all of them one simple challenge: If there is any information that you know about the decision to close these lanes in Fort Lee, you have one hour to tell either my chief of staff, Kevin O'Dowd, or my chief counsel, Charlie McKenna."

January 16

Christie announced that New York attorney Randy Mastro was hired. Mastro was described by The New York Times as an associate of former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani, having served as his Assistant United States Attorney, and then his Deputy Mayor of New York City. Port Authority lawyers lodged a complaint with the law firm that there would be a potential conflict. The firm and Mastro have represented the Port Authority in ongoing disputes over the 2011 toll increases, which has been investigated by Wisniewski, who has subpoenaed their financial records in the past and as part of the Bridgegate scandal. A firm's spokesperson denied that there would be any conflicts. A retention letter, signed by New Jersey Assistant Attorney General Robert T. Lougy, indicated that the governor's office and law firm did not consider there to be any conflicts. The final released agreement, signed on January 30, indicated that Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher and Mastro, who is head of litigation in their New York office, would aid in an internal investigation by the governor's office into the matter; assist it "with document retention and production in connection with the United States Attorney inquiry, and other appropriate inquires and requests for information"; and review its operations and information flow. The agreement did not mention whether the firm would personally represent any of the office’s staff, including those who have received subpoenas.

January 31

The governor's office issued a statement that denied the allegations about Christie that were contained in a January 31 letter, which was made public, from Alan Zegas, Wildstein's attorney, to the Port Authority. The letter questioned the accuracy of various statements made by Christie about his client, without providing any specific references, and claimed that there is evidence of Christie being aware of the toll lane closures at the time that they were closed. The governor's office stated that Christie stood by his position that he: "first learned lanes were closed when it was reported by the press". Christie previously stated in his December 13 press conference that this was well after the toll lanes for local traffic were reopened.

February 3

During his monthly talk radio appearance, Christie said he was cooperating with subpoenas from the state legislative committee and the U.S. Attorney to his governor's office, which began turning over documents to the legislative committee earlier in the day and would continue to do so as the requested items were located.

Reactions and impact

As of January 2014, there is a wide range of opinion about the impact of this scandal on a potential Christie presidential bid.

Sokolich, a perceived target of the closures, told the New York Daily News on January 8 that he was appalled: "How low can you go? This is insane. It's the worst example of a petty political vendetta...I'm embarrassed. And congratulations, you've just made New Jersey the brunt of every political joke for the next 25 years—again."

Barbara Buono stated that the incident may shed light on why it was so hard for Democrats to run against Christie in a state reckoned as part of the solid bloc of blue states in the Northeast. The state has gone Democratic in every presidential election since 1992, and Democrats have controlled both houses of the state legislature for more than a decade. She observed that the culture of intimidation and retribution engendered by Christie and his staff made people unwilling to donate to a competing campaign at a level where their name would be made public, stating that "I was relegated to raising money in $300 increments" because political contributions over that amount must be made public under New Jersey campaign finance law.

The New Jersey Working Families Alliance, a New Jersey grassroots group, stated that it had collected over 20,000 signatures on a petition calling for Christie to resign, including 6,500 from New Jersey residents. The College Democrats of America responded to the scandal by releasing a statement from one of its New Jersey officers concluding "Governor Christie’s leadership is why this happened, and this shows he is not fit to hold office today in New Jersey, or nationally in 2016."

On a January 16 broadcast of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Fallon and Christie hero Bruce Springsteen, both dressed as Springsteen from the 1980s, performed a parody of "Born to Run", reworded to describe the scandal. The official YouTube clip, which was uploaded two days before, received over 4 million hits.

Syndicated columnist Ruben Navarette expressed his opinion that "left-leaning elements of the media" are attempting to exploit the scandal to "clear the way for likely Democratic presidential nominee - Hillary Clinton."

On February 1, Christie was booed by some in a crowd at Times Square during the ceremonial "handing off" of the Super Bowl, which would be played in New Jersey the next day.

The Democratic National Committee released a video after the December 2013, New Jersey Assembly hearing that raised questions if “Christie's political payback” was behind the toll lane closures. It released a satirical video, timed to coincide with the January Assembly hearing, about what questions still needed to be answered. At the beginning of February, it released an online video ad with a Super Bowl 48-inspired, football game theme. It was followed soon after by a video that parodied Facebook's popular "Look Back" videos.

On February 4, the Port Authority confirmed the elimination of David Wildstein's custom-made job title that never had a job description, Director of Interstate Capital Projects.

Rudy Giuliani, whose support of Christie goes back to 2002 when Christie became U.S. Attorney for New Jersey and his successful run for New Jersey governor in 2009, has been one of Christie's strongest defenders in this scandal. However, Giuliani has also stated: "If he’s not telling the truth, he’s ruined." While Giuliani has claimed that he is not acting as a surrogate on behalf of Christie, many of the media inquires for interviews with Giuliani have gone to the governor's office and are forwarded to Giuliani by Maria Comella, Christie's Communications Director, who also worked for Giuliani in his 2008 presidential election campaign. Giuliani has also updated Commella, who was among the twenty served with subpoenas by the NJ legislative committee, on statements he has made on Christie’s behalf, which is usually after an interview.

Polls

A Rasmussen poll, published January 10, showed that 56% believe Christie should resign "if it is proven that he approved of retaliation against an elected official who refused to support him"; only 29% disagreed. A majority reported they believed it was at least somewhat likely that Christie was aware, at the time, that the September toll lane closures were retaliation for the mayor of Fort Lee's refusal to support the governor's re-election.

A Quinnipiac poll, published January 21, showed that the Fort Lee scandal had hurt Christie's national standings, including his potential run for the Republican nomination for the 2016 presidential election. The poll showed him trailing former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton 46% to 38%, which is a downturn from two previous polls that showed Christie and Clinton about even, after Christie had gained considerably in the polls against her since March 2013. The December 2013 poll had shown Christie at 42% with Clinton, who is the leading potential Democrat candidate, at 41%. Nationally, peoples' view of his presidential capabilities had gone down with 35% agreeing and 36% disagreeing that he would make a good president. This was down from 49% agreeing to 31% disagreeing in a November poll. For the people, who had heard of the Bridgegate scandal, 50% indicated this scandal would hurt Christie's presidential hopes, and made 34% of all those polled less likely to vote for Christie. His favorability rating declined to only 33% viewing him generally as favorable with 30% unfavorable. This is down from his highest rating of 47% favorable to 23% unfavorable in December 2013. However, the poll did show that Christie still polled the best against Clinton among the current leading potential Republican candidates, even though he had gone from the leading potential Republican candidate in December to a statistical tie with three others.

A Rutgers-Eagleton poll, published January 24, showed that the Fort Lee scandal had hurt his standings among New Jersey residents. Christie’s favorability rating, as governor, was shown to be 46%, down 22 points from just before his landslide re-election victory in November 2013, with 43% having an unfavorable view. While the majority of residents still approve his overall performance as governor, his 53% job approval was down 15 points from November. A majority, 56%, indicated that it was “very unlikely” or "somewhat unlikely" that Christie’s top aides acted without his knowledge in the Fort Lee scandal. Only 20% said they fully believed Christie’s explanation about this topic, while 42% did not believe his version at all and 33% only partially believed him.

A Monmouth University/Asbury Park Press poll, published February 24, showed Christie's job approval ratings in New Jersey at 50%, which was down 9% since January and 20% from 12 months ago. Other results showed 61% believed the governor is not being completely honest about what he knows about the toll lane closures, and 50% (up from 34% in January) thought Christie was personally involved in the decision to close the toll lanes.

Speculation as to motives

The Modern high-rise residential building under construction at the Hudson Lights redevelopment area. Looking east from George Washington Bridge Plaza.

Widely held speculation is that the target of the toll lane closures, with the associated traffic jams in his town, was Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich, a Democrat, for not supporting Christie, a Republican, in the 2013 New Jersey gubernatorial election. Sokolich had claimed he was asked for an endorsement once, during Spring 2013, months before the August order for traffic problems from Christie's Deputy Chief of Staff. Though the two men are from different parties and an endorsement would normally not be expected, Governor Christie ran on a platform of bipartisanship and had secured the endorsement of many other Democratic officials.

In an interview on February 6, 2014 with The Record, Sokolich elaborated that the Christie administration courted his endorsement over a period of time going back to around 2010 when Christie invited Sokolich and a handful of other mayors, including Hoboken’s Dawn Zimmer, to have lunch at the governor’s mansion in Princeton. Governor Christie was shown in a picture talking with local mayors in a line-up, including Sokolich, after a news conference in Teaneck on December 8, 2011. In 2012, Sokolich and his cousins were given a personal tour of the 9/11 Memorial Plaza by Wildstein, one of Christie's senior appointees at the Port Authority, who repeatedly told Sokolich, “I’ve been told to be nice to you.” Matt Mowers, regional political director for Christie's re-election campaign - who had previously worked in the governor’s intergovernmental affairs office, which was the chief liaison to towns - met with Sokolich regularly in 2013 and told him about other Democrats who endorsed Christie for governor. On at least three occasions, Sokolich said that Mowers brought up the subject of Sokolich’s possible endorsement. While Sokolich never said he would not endorse Christie, he eventually supported Barbara Buono, Christie's Democratic opponent for governor in the 2013 election. Christie stated at his January 9 press conference that Sokolich was “never on my radar screen” and that he would not "have been able to pick him [Sokolich] out of a lineup."

E-mails by Christie appointees indicate they were aware the closures would harm Sokolich. In an e-mail from David Wildstein responding to Bill Stepien, Wildstein stated "It will be a tough November for this little Serbian", derogatorily referring to Sokolich, who is Croatian-American. Bill Baroni referred to "Serbia" in text messages in another apparent reference to mayor Sokolich.

Hudson Lights, a "billion dollar redevelopment" project being promoted by Mayor Sokolich, might be involved as a target of the political retribution. It has been noted that "the Hudson Lights project is a billion dollar project because it offers unparalleled access to the George Washington Bridge. But take away that access and it's no longer a billion dollar project." In a September 12, 2013, e-mail to Bill Baroni, during the time when the closure was still on-going, Mayor Sokolich raised concerns about the redevelopment project, asking "What do I do when our billion dollar development is put on line at the end of next year?"

Another hypothesis is that the target could have been New Jersey Senate majority leader, Loretta Weinberg, who represents the New Jersey district containing Fort Lee, as retribution for the Democrats' intentions to block Christie's reappointment of a New Jersey Supreme Court justice. Christie withdrew his reappointment consideration for Helen E. Hoens, a Republican, while referring to New Jersey Senate Democrats as "animals" on August 12, 2013, one day before Christie's deputy chief of staff, Bridget Kelly, sent an e-mail to Wildstein in which she initiated plans to cause traffic congestion in Fort Lee. However, Weinberg's name has not been mentioned in any released documents as part of the ongoing investigations.

Claims made by Jersey City Mayor Fulop

Main article: Governorship of Chris Christie § Alleged retaliation against Jersey City mayor

After the major news stories broke on January 8, 2014 with much more evidence about the Bridgegate scandal, the mayor of Jersey City in Hudson County, Steven Fulop, came forward and alleged on January 9 that he was also targeted for political reprisals by the Christie administration for declining to endorse Christie in the 2013 election for governor. Fulop's claim may be supported by an e-mail by David Wildstein dated September 9, 2013. Bridget Kelly had e-mailed Wildstein and asked about his response, if any, to Fort Lee Mayor Sokolich about the Fort Lee toll lane closures. Wildstein responded: "Radio silence. His name comes right after Mayor Fulop."

On July 18, 2013, Fulop, a Democrat, communicated his decision not to endorse Republican Chris Christie in the upcoming election. Starting that day, the Mayor's staff received phone calls from six Christie administration officials and Bill Baroni canceling their separate meetings, which had been set up by Kelly and Bill Stepien for July 23 and July 29 in Jersey City, with Fulop.

Timeline

2013

Dates	Events
Week of August 4	Port Authority Chairman David Samson met with Governor Christie (Investigations need to determine if and how any part of this meeting was related to the scandal since subsequent subpoenaed documents submitted by Wildstein made reference to it)
August 13	Bridget Anne Kelly e-mailed David Wildstein: "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee"; Wildstein replied: "Got it".
August 28	Wildstein received e-mail from Peter Zipf, Port Authority chief engineer, for scenario for reducing toll lanes from three to two for local traffic from Fort Lee and surrounding communities.
August 29	Per Wildstein's request, he received e-mail (with copy to Zipf) from Jose M. Rivera, Port Authority chief traffic engineer, for scenario for reducing toll lanes from three to one for that local traffic.
September 6	Wildstein e-mailed Kelly, "ready to do this", and instructed Port Authority personnel to implement toll lane closures for September 9.
September 9	Two of three toll lanes are closed to traffic at a Fort Lee entrance and shifted to main highway traffic; daily massive traffic jams in Fort Lee began to occur during the rush hours and extended well beyond those times. The first of many inquiries by Mayor Mark Sokolich and other Fort Lee officials to Port Authority managers, including Bill Baroni, and spokespersons go unanswered during the week. Port Authority Police Lieutenant Thomas "Chip" Michaels, who was working with Wildstein, told Fort Lee Police Chief Keith Bendul that the toll lane changes were part of a planned month-long "test" to "relieve" traffic congestion on the Interstate 95 approaches to the bridge at the expense of Fort Lee and surrounding towns.
September 10	Response to Wildstein in redacted text message: "Is it wrong that I'm smiling"; response to this question: "No”.
September 11	During the third day of the closures, Christie, Wildstein, Samson and Baroni are photographed together at the site of the World Trade Center during a commemoration of the 12th anniversary of the terrorist attacks. (The photo, released in January 2014, raised questions, including from Wisniewski, chair of the NJ committee investigating the scandal, about what might have been discussed, if anything, while the local toll lanes were closed)
September 12	John Cichowski, the Road Warrior columnist for The Record, asked Port Authority Media Relations about the lane changes; this inquiry went into that evening's "media pendings" report, getting the attention of Port Authority Executive Director Patrick Foye (a New York apointee)
September 13	Foye sent e-mail that ordered toll lanes re-opened at the local entrance and stated he would find out how this "abusive decision" was made; Baroni forwarded the e-mail to Regina Egea, Christie's Director of the Authorities Unit Cichowski produces the first media coverage of the lane closures Port Authority spokesman released an explanation that the lane closures were part of a week-long study to review traffic safety patterns. Baroni e-mailed Samson: "General, can I call you on this now?" Wildstein e-mailed Kelly: "We are appropriately going nuts. Samson helping us to retaliate."
September 17	Wall Street Journal reported that "the decision to close the traffic lanes caused tension" at the Port Authority since "the lane closures came as a surprise to some high-ranking officials”.
September 18	Samson's e-mail to Port Authority Vice Chairman, Scott H. Rechler, criticizing Foye about what was leaked to the Wall Street Journal: "he's playing in traffic, made a big mistake.” Wildstein sent a communication, along with the Wall Street Journal story, to Christie's campaign manager, Bill Stepien, who responded, "It's fine. The mayor is an idiot, though", referring to Sokolich.
October 1	Wall Street Journal broke the story about the contents of Patrick Foye's September 13 e-mail, including that he pledged to investigate "how PA process was wrongfully subverted and the public interest damaged.”
October 2	Wildstein wrote to Stepien that leaks by Foye needed to be addressed.
November 5	Christie re-elected governor of New Jersey.
November 25	Baroni, who was not sworn in, made a presentation before the Assembly Transportation Committee that included his claim that the lanes closures were part of a traffic study. Wildstein to Baroni: "Charlie [purportedly Charlie McKenna, Chief Counsel to Governor Christie] said you did GREAT”.
December 4	Meeting between Wildstein and Michael Drewniak, Governor Christie's press secretary.
December 6	Wildstein announced he would resign at the end of the year.
December 9	Foye testified under oath before Assembly Transportation Committee that he was not aware of any traffic study ordered by Wildstein, with probable supervision by Baroni. Two other Port Authority managers testified that Wildstein ordered the lane closures for a traffic study, which they thought did not follow Port Authority planning protocols, and instructed them not to inform local officials and the public.
December 10	The Port Authority's inspector general started an investigation.
December 12	Wall Street Journal reported that Christie had called Governor Cuomo about Foye and the closure investigation.
December 13	Christie announced the immediate resignations of Baroni and Wildstein; Christie denied speaking with Cuomo about Foye and the closure investigation.

2014

Dates	Events
January 8	Major break in the scandal when e-mails and texts are released in the news media showing that the closure of toll lanes for local traffic was a conspiracy to harm Fort Lee and avoid public disclosure of the reasons Christie withdrew his selection of Bill Stepien to head New Jersey GOP
January 9	Christie held a press conference and indicated that he first learned on January 8 of his staff's involvement via media news reports, including published communications from his staff At the press conference, Christie stated: "we'll work cooperatively with the investigations"; he announced that Kelly had been fired earlier in the day for lying about having no involvement or direct knowledge, without him asking her about her actions, since he had seen her published e-mails in the news that were related to the toll lane closures When appearing before the New Jersey Assembly Transportation Committee, Wildstein refused to testify, while invoking his right against self-incrimination The committee voted to hold Wildstein in contempt; it referred these charges on January 13 to the Mercer County prosecutor's office for review United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey opened a preliminary federal inquiry into matters related to the toll lane closures
January 10	The Assembly Transportation Committee publicly released all subpoenaed documents (There was no evidence that additional administration officials, beyond those already mentioned, had advance knowledge of the toll lane closure plan, but showed that top aides to Christie were aware early on of related issues and their importance for avoiding further disclosures)
January 11	John Wisniewski stated that he did not rule out possible impeachment of Christie, but only if there was a direct link between the governor and the September lane closures
January 14	Christie pledged to "cooperate with all appropriate inquiries to ensure this breach of trust does not happen again" at the State of the State address In response to Christie's statement, Wisniewski, who was leading the Assembly inquiry, expressed concern that Christie was limiting the meaning of his previously announced cooperation, and stated: "I'm hoping he's not parsing his words in some way."
January 16	A special session of the New Jersey Assembly re-authorized the legislative subpoena powers and created a bi-partisan investigative committee, chaired by Wisniewski, to continue the investigation Assembly committee issued subpoenas to 18 people in Christie's administration, his 2013 re-election campaign, and the Port Authority, with requested submittals by February 3 While Christie himself was not subpoenaed, his governor's office and 2013 election campaign organization received subpoenas Christie announced his office hired New York attorney Randy Mastro, a long time associate of Rudy Guliani, who is a friend to Christie, to aid in an internal investigation of the matter A final released agreement, signed on January 30, provided details concerning representation for the governor's office by Mastro and his firm, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher
January 23	A lawyer for Christie's 2013 re-election campaign and the New Jersey Republican State Committee announced both organizations received the first-known grand jury subpoenas from the U.S. Attorney for New Jersey for documents related to the lane closures
January 27	New Jersey Legislature voted to create a joint bi-partisan investigative committee (with co-chairs, Assembly Deputy Speaker John Wisniewski and Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg) comprising eight Assembly representatives (five Democrats and three Republican), and four Senators (three Democrats and one Republican)
January 29	The New York Times published an exposé about Christie's “intergovernmental affairs” operation, part of an ongoing campaign to influence mayors for their political support and also have an impact on 2013 election results for Christie as governor in certain New Jersey towns (Officials in the governor's office maintained dossiers, which were originally created by Stepien when he was Deputy Chief of Staff and regularly reviewed by Christie, on the "Top 100" list of mayors and what state government resources could be used to support and influence them; the newspaper did not identify municipalities on the list)
January 31	Letter from Wildstein's attorney to the Port Authority questioned the accuracy of statements made by the governor about his client and claimed there is evidence of Christie being aware of the toll lane closures at the time that they were closed. The governor's office issued a statement that denied the allegations
February 3	Legislature's investigative committee announced, without details, that some responses to subpoenas had been received and that extensions for submissions had been granted to others Attorneys for Stepien and Kelly had indicated they would not comply with the subpoenas, citing their clients' Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and Fourth Amendment right against unreasonable search and seizure
February 10	Legislature's investigative committee voted to compel Stepien and Kelly to produce the previously requested documents, instructing special counsel Reid Schar to "take all necessary steps" to enforce the subpoenas and issued 18 new subpoenas, including to new recipients within the governor's office and the Port Authority, and to the New Jersey State Police aviation unit Mastro filed an Open Public Records Act request with Fort Lee for documents, communications, and media interactions related to the toll lane closures, and meeting and interactions with Christie’s re-election team
February 11	Governor's office informed the Senate Oversight Committee that the policy of the Christie administration is that its members are not allowed to appear before legislative committees; this set up a potential future confrontation with the legislature's investigative committee for Bridgegate
February 16	PA Executive Director Patrick Foye requested inspector general of Port Authority to notify U.S. Attorney and look into what Port Authority of New York and New Jersey Police Department officers knew about the lane closures and why some told drivers stuck in the traffic jams to contact the municipal offices or mayor of Fort Lee with their inquiries Legislature's investigative committee announced it will investigate why there appeared to be an "orchestrated" effort by Port Authority cops to point drivers in the traffic jams toward Fort Lee officials and the mayor
February 17	Sokolich's lawyer sent a letter to Mastro that indicated the mayor would not grant his requested investigation interview or requested documents since it would not be appropriate while there were other ongoing investigations
February 18	On the deadline for submission of requested documents, attorneys for Stepien and Kelly reiterated that their clients will not comply with the legislative committee's subpoenas
February 19	Fort Lee publicly released 2,211 pages of municipal records related to the toll lane closures based on February 10 request by Christie Governor's office lawyer Randy Mastro; the borough refused to release other documents (since the request was characterized as "too broad"), including those held by Mayor Sokolich and his staff regarding the toll lane closures, and to his decision not to endorse Christie for re-election Port Authority chairman David Samson apologized on behalf of the commissioners "for inconvenience caused to our travelers" without directly stating that it was due to plans by some individuals to cause traffic jams with the toll lane closings at the GW Bridge, and without acknowledging the detrimental effects on the borough of Fort Lee and its public services, mayor, and officials
February 20	The editorial board of The Star-Ledger, a New Jersey newspaper with the largest circulation in the state, assessed Samson's apology as "too little, too late", noted a list of his failures and conflicts of interest, and called for him to resign. New Jersey Superior Court Judge Mary Jacobson ordered attorneys representing Stepien and Kelly to file briefs by March 3 and appear in court on March 11 in response to a request from the joint Select Committee on Investigation to compel their clients to answer subpoenas and produce records about their involvement
February 21	Sokolich met with prosecutors in the U.S. Attorney's Office.
February 25	Executive Director Patrick Foye says he does not believe Chairman Samson has moral authority to run the Port Authority. The Daily News (New York) calls for the removal of Samson as chairman.

See also

• Controversies and scandals in the Governorship of Chris Christie
• List of scandals with "-gate" suffix
• Politics of New Jersey

External links

• Composite aerial images of GW Bridge traffic flow around the upper-level toll plaza (illustrations with one and three toll lanes opened at the affected Fort Lee entrance)
• News coverage about GW Bridge lane closure scandal from NJ.com (especially latest news from The Star-Ledger)
• News coverage about GW Bridge lane closure scandal from NorthJersey.com (especially latest news from The Record)
• NJ DOT map showing jurisdictions of highways leading to the bridge (affected Fort Lee entrance to upper-level toll plaza shown at "Kelby St" label on the map)
• Subpoenaed documents released by New Jersey Legislature
• Transcript of Christie's January 9, 2014, press conference