The internal review conducted by the law firm of Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP was released yesterday and blamed all involved but New Jersey Governor Chris Christie in the lane closures at the George Washington Bridge. The report, which was commissioned by the governor himself, said the lane closures that caused a four-day traffic jam at the bridge was led by Christie's former deputy chief of staff Bridget Anne Kelly and David Wildstein at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey. As expected, the lane closures were done to target the mayor of Fort Lee, but it did not explain what the ulterior motives are, said the report.
Partner Randy Mastro in Gibson Dunn had said during a news conference in his office in midtown Manhattan, "Our findings today are a vindication of Governor Christie and what he said all along -- that he had no knowledge of this lane realignment beforehand and no involvement in that decision."
Bloomberg cited an email unveiled earlier to the public, of which Kelly on August 13 told Wildstein, whose employer runs the lanes to deliberately cause traffic in Fort Lee. Wildstein acknowlged the order. Mastro said that the pair had wanted to get back at Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich not because of his failure to endorse Christie, but because of his lack of support and the tie-up was merely a political payback.
Christie admitted to ABC News that he was relieved about the results of the internal review. He said, "I obviously didn't make it clear enough to these folks that this kind of stuff is unacceptable. This is an abuse of the trust, of the authority that was granted to you. And that's unacceptable. To the extent that anyone didn't know that -- believe me, from this day forward, everyone will know that."
On the other hand, State Assemblyman and Democratic co-chairman John Wisniewski of a joint Senate and Assembly panel examining the closures exonerated Christie and had told reporters that the report was defective. He added, "Lawyers hired and paid for by the Christie administration will not be the final word on this matter. The people of New Jersey need a full accounting."
