A new report into the New Jersey ‘Bridgegate’ scandal, commissioned by Gov. Chris Christie himself and funded by taxpayers, reaffirms Christie’s previous statements that he was not involved in the lane closures on the George Washington Bridge last fall.
The report was released Thursday, by Randy Mastro, a former federal prosecutor, reports The Associated Press. It was conducted by a law firm Christie picked and used over 250,000 documents and interviews with Christie and his administration to reach its conclusion.
“We found that Gov. Christie had no knowledge beforehand of this George Washington Bridge realignment idea,” Mastro told the media.
According to The New York Times, former Port Authority official David Wildstein, who was appointed by Christie, told investigators that he did tell Christie about the lane closures. They wreaked havoc on the town of Fort Lee, NJ from Sept. 9 to Sept. 12, causing miles of traffic buildup at the GWB.
Christie did not recall ever speaking with Wildstein about the alleged plot. The report also said that there was no evidence to show that Christie knew. Instead, it puts most of the blame on Bridget Anne Kelly, a staffer Christie fired after the scandal began making headlines in January.
Kelly and Wildstein were apparently getting back at Fort Lee’s Democratic mayor, who did not support Christie’s re-election bid, as other Democratic mayors had. While the report confirms that the mayor was the target, investigators couldn’t find evidence to prove that he was refusing to support Christie.
In addition, the report found that Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer’s claim that she was threatened by the administration “demonstrably false.”