Wildstein: Christie press secretary told of retaliatory bridge scheme

NEWARK, N.J.—The former Port Authority official who plotted the George Washington lane closures in September 2013 testified Wednesday that he told New Jersey Republican Gov. Chris Christie’s press secretary a couple months later that the traffic jams had been implemented to punish a local mayor who had refused to endorse Christie’s re-election campaign.

David Wildstein told jurors Wednesday that he told Michael Drewniak on Dec. 4, 2013, that “others in the governor’s office had been involved” and approved of the plan. News stories were growing “out of control,” and Wildstein needed to resign and “take responsibility,” he said he told Drewniak.

“He was quite upset,” Wildstein testified.

Drewniak has acknowledged that he met with Wildstein that day and that Wildstein told him about others’ involvement. But Drewniak has denied knowing that the lane closures were punitive in nature.

Wildstein met with Christie’s chief counsel, Charles McKenna, a couple days after talking with Drewniak and agreed to resign. Even so, Wildstein said he expected to play “some sort of role in advancing Gov. Christie’s political future.”

“I had been told by others that I was still on the governor’s team, that I was still valued as a member of the team,” Wildstein told jurors. “I was told at some point that Gov. Christie was happy that I had stepped up and taken responsibility.”

Former Christie deputy chief of staff Bridget Anne Kelly and former Port Authority appointee Bill Baroni are charged with misusing Port Authority resources, wire fraud and depriving Fort Lee residents of their right to localized travel. The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey runs the bridge and other transportation hubs.

Wildstein pleaded guilty in 2015 to conspiracy charges and is cooperating with the government.

In May 2014 testimony to New Jersey legislators investigating the traffic jams, Drewniak described Wildstein, who was an anonymous political blogger before taking a job at the Port Authority in 2010, as an “extremely hands-on, involved person” who insisted that the lane closures were part of a traffic study.

“I, too, would like to know from those who hatched and carried out this scheme, just what it was they hoped to accomplish and—very simply—why?” Drewniak said under oath.

On Wednesday in Newark, Wildstein testified in federal court that Baroni lied to a legislative committee investigating the lane closures. Baroni appeared before the Assembly Transportation Committee on Nov. 25, 2013, and said the lane closures were part of a traffic study. Wildstein testified that both he and Baroni knew this was a cover story.