Story highlights
New Jersey state assembly releases 907 pages of documents Friday on lane closure scandal
Christie's Republican political allies may have created traffic mayhem to spite a Democrat
A group of citizens has filed a class action lawsuit against Christie
Analyst: There may have been a crime, as woman died during the chaos
This may turn into much more than just a political scandal.
It may have seemed like a teenage prank at the time, but the blockage of bridge traffic as a possible act of partisan political revenge has put New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie in the middle of a serious legal stew.
And the fire underneath it is just beginning to heat up for the Republican presidential hopeful, as the state assembly plans to post online 907 pages of documents related to the case Friday.
State lawmakers questioned one of Christie’s allies on Thursday, a former state official implicated in the scandal. So far, David Wildstein has repeatedly refused to answer, invoking his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination.
What we’ve learned from document released
The legislators charged him with contempt for his lack of cooperation. But the dam could eventually break as lawmakers dig in their heels, analysts say.
As long as Christie was telling the truth at a marathon press conference he held on Thursday, he should be able to step out of the caldron, analysts who spoke with CNN say.
For nearly two hours the high-profile governor, who gained national recognition for his response to superstorm Sandy, answered questions from journalists, divulging many details.
“He was pretty specific about what he knew and when he knew it,” said CNN analyst Gloria Borger on The Lead with Jake Tapper.
But if any of it doesn’t jibe with other peoples’ stories, information provided in documents or clues that pop up, experts say Christie could get dragged into civil and criminal lawsuits.
One thing is certain. The legislative inquiry into the alleged misdeeds that led to the traffic jam on the George Washington Bridge is just getting into gear.
What happened to begin with?
It was September and Christie was full steam into his re-election bid – which he won two months later. Wildstein, who Christie appointed to a high position at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, ordered the closing of two of the three lanes of traffic leading to the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee. It held up motorists trying to make it into Manhattan and caused days of massive traffic jams in Fort Lee, where the Democratic mayor Mark Sokolich had declined to endorse Christie for re-election.
Democrats speculated that the mayhem was political retaliation against Sokolich. Hearings ensued, and Wildstein resigned under pressure. Then came Wednesday’s revelation that a top Christie aide, Bridget Anne Kelly had e-mailed Wildstein before the closures, telling him, “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee.” “Got it,” Wildstein replied back. He e-mailed a comment that the parents of children stuck in school buses in the traffic jams were Democratic voters.
Christie fired Kelly after the scandal broke.
Possible prank, sure, but something to sue over?
This was no fun and games for people who sat tormented for hours in traffic and missed important appointments, legal analyst Alan Dershowitz told CNN’s Brooke Baldwin.
It did real damage.
“It was utter chaos those days. People were pouring into the store, complaining,” Debbie Minuto recalled Thursday in her shop, Binghamton Bagel Cafe, in the town of Fort Lee. “The bridge is a lifeline here. You take away the bridge, you take away our livelihood.”
That makes it a legal matter, Dershowitz said.
“The law looks backwards and says: What causes these harms?” he said.
One group of residents from Bergen County, where Fort Lee is located, has already filed a class-action civil lawsuit against Christie. They want to be compensated for alleged wages lost, when they arrived late at work.
Was a crime committed?
A woman died at the time of the mayhem, and emergency workers trying to get to her to save her complained that the traffic jams slowed them down.
Sokolich thinks there should be a criminal investigation into the incident, saying it put “folks in absolute danger.”
His Democratic colleague, New Jersey state Sen. Ray Lesniak, agrees but takes it a step further. He called for federal prosecutors to open an investigation into whether the lane closures were a factor in the woman’s death.
“Endangering people’s lives – that’s not politics. That’s why the U.S. attorneys have to get involved,” he said.
U.S. Attorney’s Office spokeswoman Rebekah Carmichael, said it’s “reviewing” whether federal laws were violated.
But Florence Genova’s family doesn’t seem to want to press charges.
She was 91 when she went into cardiac arrest, and her daughter Vilma Oleri told CNN affiliate WABC that she didn’t think the traffic was to blame.
“I really don’t think so, no, I really don’t. I think she was 91 and really believe in my heart that she was already gone when the ambulance got (to her house),” she said.
But Genova was not alone. Paramedics red-flagged “unnecessary delays for emergency services” to the mayor on the second day of the lane closures.
Legal analyst Dershowitz thinks a crime may have indeed been committed and prosecutors could land convictions against Wildstein, Kelly and anyone else implicated, “particularly if they can demonstrate if the woman died as a result of the traffic jam.”
Christie says he didn’t know anything about this. How could this get him?
If Christie’s close associates are prosecuted or convicted, it could lead them to turn on Christie, Dershowitz said.
Thursday’s press conference was the longest and most candid in Christie’s career, New Jersey public radio reporter told Jake Tapper.
“This is absolutely extraordinary,” he said. Christie offered a lot of information to back up his claim that he knew nothing.
At the same time, he may have given investigators fodder to work with, but also a lot for Wildstein and Kelly to contradict, should they open up to lawmakers who questioning them.
“They may very well want to save themselves and say, ‘Wait a minute; don’t believe what the governor said,’” Dershowitz told Baldwin.
Wildstein may have pleaded the Fifth initially, but that’s normal in the beginning, Jeffrey Toobin told CNN’s Wolf Blitzer.
“You don’t want your client testifying until he has seen all the documents available.”
But things could change. If lawmakers decide to go after Christie, they could offer Wildstein – or Kelly, if they question her – immunity.
They could decide to save themselves at his expense, Toobin said.
Anyone Christie fired may also try to get revenge.