Chris Christie may have been told of 'Bridgegate' lane closures

New Jersey governor Chris Christie insists he does not remember being informed of the traffic realignment. Photograph: Mike Segar/Reuters

The New Jersey governor, Chris Christie, may have been told about politically motivated lane closures on a key bridge linking his state with New York as they were happening, a report by lawyers he hired to conduct an investigation into the incident concluded on Thursday.

However, Christie insists that he does not remember being informed about the traffic realignment at the George Washington bridge, which inflicted gridlock on the town of Fort Lee, New Jersey, whose mayor is a political foe of Christie’s, last September.

The review heaps blame for the scandal on Bridget Anne Kelly, the governor’s then deputy chief of staff, who was fired after the extent of her involvement came to light. It concludes: “Governor Christie did not know of the lane realignment beforehand and had no involvement in the decision to realign the lanes.”

But the 360-page report does not rule out the possibility that Christie was told about the closures in Fort Lee while they were ongoing by David Wildstein, the Christie appointee on the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey who orchestrated the closures for Kelly. Wildstein has claimed that he informed the governor about what was happening during an event to mark the anniversary of the September 11 terrorist attacks.

“Whatever brief exchange they had occurred in a public setting where they were surrounded by many, including other Port Authority officials, the governor’s wife, and a steady stream of spectators requesting photographs and handshakes with the governor,” said an endnote to the report. “Not surprisingly, the governor has no recollection of such an exchange.”

The report said Wildstein first claimed to have “mentioned the traffic study to the governor” during a dinner with Christie’s press secretary in December. Wildstein’s attorney claimed in January, after the publication of emails on the lane closure scandal had rocked Christie’s office, that “evidence exists” showing the governor was aware of the scheme.

But Thursday’s report said that “even if actually made”, Wildstein’s remarks “would not have registered with the governor in any event because he knew nothing about this decision in advance and would not have considered another traffic issue at one of the bridges or tunnels to be memorable.” Wildstein resigned from the Port Authority in December.

In an interview with ABC News on Thursday, Christie said described the actions of his aides as stupid. He told interviewer Diane Sawyer: "When things were first reported, I said: 'This can't possibly be true. Because who would do something like that?' Sometimes, people do inexplicably stupid things."

He added: "And so that's what makes it so hard then to, as the guy in charge, you … none of it made any sense to me. And to some extent still does not."

The report was produced by attorneys with Gibson, Dunn and Crutcher, a law firm that has significant ties to the Christie administration and other Republicans. The inquiry was led by Randy Mastro, one of the firm’s senior attorneys, who served as chief of staff and deputy mayor to former Republican New York mayor Rudolph Giuliani. Several Christie aides have previously worked for Giuliani. Another of the lawyers who conducted the inquiry, former US attorney Debra Yang, has publicly described Christie as a "very dear friend" and received a lucrative contract from him when he was the US attorney for New Jersey. John Wisniewski, the Democratic assemblyman leading a separate inquiry into the George Washington bridge scandal in the state legislature, said previously that Yang's involvement raised "serious questions" about the credibility of the internal review.

The inquiry is estimated to have cost New Jersey taxpayers at least $1m in legal fees.

“This is a vindication of Governor Christie,” Mastro said at a press conference in New York. “We found that what he had been saying all along was true.” Describing the scheme as “the actions of the few” in Christie’s office, he said: “It is sad that Bridget Kelly did what she did, it is sad that David Wildstein did what he did.”

The report added that Christie’s version of events “rings true” and said “he has conducted himself at every turn as someone who has nothing to hide.” Christie insisted at a marathon press conference on January 9 that he had no involvement in the lane closures and had been assured by aides the previous month that they had been part of a legitimate traffic study, amid press reports they were a deliberate assault on Fort Lee.

Subpoenaed emails released the day before Christie’s appearance had shown that Kelly had emailed Wildstein on August 13 telling him: “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee.” Wildstein, a former schoolmate of Christie’s, replied: “Got it.”

The closures caused hours of traffic delays for drivers between 9 September and 12 September. When reminded that buses carrying school pupils were caught up in the jams, Kelly wrote: "They are the children of Buono voters," referring to Barbara Buono, Christie’s Democratic opponent in his re-election campaign last year.

Thursday’s report said that the day before sending her now-notorious email, Kelly “reconfirmed” that Fort Lee’s mayor, Mark Sokolich, would not join a series of other Democratic figures in the state who were endorsing Christie’s re-election that year. Kelly and Wildstein orchestrated the lane closures “at least in part, for some ulterior motive to target Mayor Sokolich,” it said.

But the authors added: “What motivated this act is not yet clear. The common speculation that this was an act of political retaliation because Mayor Sokolich failed to endorse the governor for re-election is not established by the evidence that we have seen”.

The review said that Kelly attempted to cover up her involvement by asking a staffer to erase an email in which she responded to learning that Mayor Sokolich was “extremely upset” by the lane closures by saying: “Good.” However the staffer preserved a copy of the email, the report said.

The attorneys said that they found no evidence that anyone other than Kelly in Christie’s office was aware of the scheme to target Fort Lee. They also said that Bill Stepien, a former senior Christie aide who was running the governor’s re-election campaign at the time of the closures and was copied on some of the emails published in January, was under the impression that it was a legitimate traffic study.

It disclosed that Kelly and Stepien had become “personally involved” but claimed: “By early August 2013, their personal relationship had cooled, apparently at Stepien’s choice, and they largely stopped speaking.” After the bridge scandal erupted, Christie removed Stepien from a role he’d given him at the Republican Governors Association, which Christie currently chairs, and told him to abandon his bid for the chairmanship of the New Jersey Republican party, which he’d been expected to win.

“Like the others involved in the lane realignment, events in Kelly’s personal life may have had some bearing on her subjective motivations and state of mind,” the report said.

The report also said that after the emails were published on 8 January, Christie held an "emotional" crisis meeting with his senior staff, and recounted how "the governor, welling up with tears, expressed shock at the revelations, directed Kelly’s immediate firing for lying to him, and also decided to sever ties with Stepien."

The lawyers were given access to about 250,000 documents and to other electronic records, including text messages and emails stored on Christie’s iPhone. They also interviewed about 70 people from Christie’s office and the Port Authority.

Asked whether he was still considering a run for US president in 2016, Christie, who had been considered an early frontrunner for the Republican party’s nomination until the lane closure scandal, said: “Sure.” 

He went on: “There’s certainly nothing that’s happened in the last number of months, since we talked about this the last time, that would make me think any differently about my ability to be able to pursue that job or to perform in it.”