Gov. Chris Christie’s top Port Authority appointee covered up the crippling, retaliatory lane closures at the George Washington Bridge by demanding the agency hide the truth from the public, damning e-mails revealed Friday. 
 
 New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s top Port Authority appointee covered up the crippling, retaliatory lane closures at the George Washington Bridge by demanding the agency hide the truth from the public, damning e-mails revealed Friday. 
 
 “I am on my way to office to discuss. There can be no public discourse,” Bill Baroni, then the PA’s deputy executive director, wrote to agency head Patrick Foye on Sept. 13, following a week of traffic chaos in Fort Lee. 
 
 The closures were disguised as a traffic study to see what would happen if two of the three lanes from Fort Lee to the George Washington Bridge were cut off during the morning rush. 
 
 The results were disastrous — and Foye demanded that the lanes be reopened in an e-mail to Baroni and other underlings. 
 
 Foye complained the reckless move put lives at risk and violated federal laws and the laws of New Jersey and New York. 
 
 “I am appalled at the lack of process, failure to inform our customers and Fort Lee and most of all the dangers created to the public interest,” he wrote. “I pray that no life has been lost or trip of a hospital-bound or hospice-bound patient delayed. 
 
 “To be clear,” he added, “I will get to the bottom of this abusive decision which violates everything this agency stands for.” 
 
 Foye then asked his top spokeswoman in an e-mail, “How do we get the word out?” 
 
 Baroni, who was cc’d, shot back, “Pat, we need to discuss prior to any communications.” 
 
 “Bill, we are going to fix this fiasco,” Foye wrote, to which Baroni responded about keeping the public in the dark. 
 
 The e-mails were the start of an elaborate coverup by the agency bosses in the wake of the traffic mess orchestrated by top Christie aide Bridget Kelly — who was fired on Thursday — and David Wildstein, Christie’s PA appointee, who resigned last month. 
 
 The e-mails released by the state Assembly on Friday showed the chaos caused by the plot and the lengths taken to hush it up. 
 
 Port Authority cops at the bridge only learned of the Monday closures a day ahead of time. PA Police Capt. Darcy Licorish begged for more information. 
 
 “No answers could be supplied,” Licorish wrote after meeting with the bridge manager, Robert Durando. 
 
 Wildstein viewed the mayhem in person, arriving at the GWB at 7 a.m. on Sept. 9. “Will be at the bridge early Monday to view new lane test,” Wildstein wrote to Durando. Durando sent an e-mail later that day that read: “Fort Lee is not happy.” 
 
 The fallout triggered a border war between the Christie-appointed PA chairman, David Samson, and the Gov. Cuomo-appointed Foye. 
 
 In a Sept. 16 e-mail to Scott Rechler, vice chairman of the Port Authority Board of Commissioners, Samson flat-out accused Foye of leaking an internal memo on the matter to a Wall Street Journal reporter. 
 
 “I am told the ED [executive director Foye] leaked to the WSJ his story about Fort Lee issues — very unfortunate for NY/NJ relations,” Samson wrote to Rechler, complaining the agency honcho was “playing in traffic, made a big mistake.” 
 
 A month later, on Oct. 9, a top adviser to Samson wrote to Wildstein, “Has any thought been given to writing an op-ed or providing a statement about the GWB study? Or is the plan just to hunker down and grit our way through it?” 
 
 “Yes and yes,” Wildstein answered. 
 
 Baroni’s “no public discourse” e-mail was copied to Lisa MacSpadden, the PA’s Cuomo-appointed public relations head, who quietly departed from the agency without explanation Jan. 2. 
 
 Christie is not implicated in the e-mails, but New Jersey Deputy Assembly Speaker John Wisniewski said a document submitted by Wildstein referenced a meeting between the governor and Samson a week before Kelly ordered the traffic mess. 
 
 “By submitting these documents, Mr. Wildstein is telling us they are related to the lane closures in some way. The question that demands answering is — how?” Wisniewski, a Democrat, said. 
 
 Christie did not make any statements on Friday about the documents, which provide the first extensive chronology of the Fort Lee traffic debacle. 
 
 In a Sept. 6 e-mail, Daniel Jacobs, the PA general manager of transportation, asked Gerard Quelch, in charge of planning and operations, why the test was planned: “What is driving this?” 
 
 Quelch responded: “That is my question as well. A single toll operation invites potential disaster . . . It seems like we are punishing all for the sake of a few.” 
 
 On the first day of the closings, Fort Lee officials reported hours-long backups. But Wildstein — a high-school classmate of Christie — wanted the toll-lane mayhem to go on. 
 
 Durando wrote: “Just got off the phone with DW. He’d like to continue the test of tl [toll lane] 24 through tomorrow.” 
 
 On the third day, Durando warned officials of the costs of the “test.” 
 
 “This operation has the potential to be very expensive and labor intensive,” he wrote. 
 
 On the fourth day, the PA put out the first results of the traffic study, calling it “an EARLY assessment” and noting the closings were causing traffic misery in Fort Lee 
 
 A day later — after Baroni huddled with Foye and other agency officials — the PA issued a statement: 
 
 “The Port Authority has conducted a week of study at the George Washington Bridge of traffic safety patterns. We will now review those results and determine the best traffic patterns at the GWB. We will continue to work with our local law-enforcement partners.” 
 
 Prominent highway planner Rachel Weinberger told The Post this was nothing like a typical traffic study — where a simulation plan would be presented to the local community with plenty of advance notice. 
 
 “You would do it in the middle of the night, put rubber counters down and then count how many vehicles are coming,” she said. 
 
 “It’s unclear what advantage they would have gained from bottling the bridge up for four days.” ||||| Chairman David Samson of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey blasted the agency’s executive director for leaking information about September’s controversial lane closures at the George Washington Bridge. 
 
 Samson accused Executive Director Patrick Foye of the leaking the information so that he could, ride in “on a white horse to save the day,” according to documents made public today. 
 
 In a Sept. 18 email, Samson, an appointee of Gov. Chris Christie, accused Executive Director Patrick Foye of “stirring up trouble” in the wake the lane closures. Foye ordered the closures lifted on Sept. 13, four days after they were implemented. 
 
 “Scott: I just read it and it confirms evidence of Foye’s being the leak, stirring up trouble,” Samson said in an email to Vice Chairman Scott Rechler. “This is yet another example of a story, we’ve seen it before, where he distances himself from an issue in the press and rides in on a white horse to save the day. (If you need prior examples I will provide)–in this case he’s playing in traffic, made a big mistake.” 
 
 Samson's email was referring to a story about the closures in the Wall Street Journal published on Sept. 17, citing unnamed officials at the Port Authority as saying they had caused tensions within the bi-state agency. 
 
 Rechler and Foye are both appointees of Gov. Andrew Cuomo of New York, and Rechler defended Foye in a response to Samson’s email. 
 
 “I don’t agree with your assessment of Pat’s involvement,” Rechler wrote back. “Perhaps you or Bill have some different intelligence than mine that will change that view.” 
 
 Bill Baroni was the Port Authority’s deputy executive director at the time. He resigned last month as investigations into the lane closures intensified. 
 
 Apart from Baroni, three other officials have lost their jobs: David Wildstein, the former Port Authority operative who gave the direct order for the closures; Bridget Anne Kelly, Christie's former deputy chief of staff; and Bill Stepien, a former Christie campaign manager and political consultant, who had been the governor's choice for state Republican Party chairman. 
 
 Boroni told lawmakers in November that the closures were related to a traffic study. But Democrats remain unconvinced, contending that the closures were in retaliation for the Fort Lee mayor’s failure to endorse Christie’s re-election bid last year. 
 
 Samson's email was among documents made public today after being subpoenaed from current and former Port Authority officials by the Assembly Transportation, Public Works and Independent Authorities Committee. One of them was Foye's Sept. 13 email criticizing the closures as a threat to public safety and possibly illegal, which was leaked to the press in October. 
 
 Some of the documents were made public on Wednesday, including an exchange between Kelly and Wildstein indicating Kelly took part in the planning of the closures and knew they would cause traffic problems in Fort Lee. 
 
 Another Wildstein-Kelly email released on Wednesday mentioned Samson, this time in reference to an email by Foye angrily denouncing the closures as dangerous and possible illegal, and ordering them lifted immediately. 
 
 "The New York side gave Fort Lee back all three lanes this morning," Wildstein wrote to Kelly that Friday, Sept. 13. "We are appropriately going nuts. Samson helping us to retaliate." 
 
 The exchange did not indicate just what kind of help was given. 
 
 
 
 The Port Authority press office did not respond to requests for comment. Samson, Foye and Rechler did not respond to separate requests sent via email. 
 
 
 
 Following Wednesday's release of documents, Samson issued a statement saying he was "extremely upset and distressed over today's disclosures." 
 
 "To be clear, neither I nor anyone on the Board had any knowledge of these lane closures until the receipt of Executive Director (Patrick) Foye's email. We expect to get a complete picture as a result of the Port Authority's Inspector General's investigation which commenced a few weeks ago and thereafter will take appropriate action." 
 
 RELATED COVERAGE 
 
 • Thousands of pages of Chris Christie bridge scandal documents released 
 
 • Bridgegate fallout: Chris Christie apologizes in wake of bridge scandal, fires top aide 
 
 • Complete coverage of bridge scandal ||||| Vulgarity-laced emails show attempts to silence GWB story 
 
 STAFF WRITERS 
 
 The Record 
 
 Full Coverage: Chris Christie and the GWB lane closure controversy 
 
 STAFF AND WIRE PHOTOS Governor Christie, David Wildstein and Bridget Anne Kelly. 
 
 Some of Governor Christie’s closest loyalists made an effort to keep information about the George Washington Bridge lane closures out of public view for months, as questions swirled about what now appears to have been a politically motivated vendetta, thousands of documents released Friday show. 
 
 The documents provide a sweeping timeline of the internal deliberations taking place among at least 10 of Christie’s trusted aides. They stretch from the weeks before the September lane closings up to and beyond the November election and are punctuated with vulgarities aimed at the media and signs of tension between New York and New Jersey officials who share control of the agency that operates the bridge. 
 
 View and download: NJ Assembly releases GWB scandal documents 
 
 The documents also show that Port Authority Chairman David Samson, Christie’s top appointee at the agency, blamed a New York official — the one who reopened the lanes and said the closings were possibly illegal — for a leak to the media. 
 
 Christie’s spokesman in Trenton, meanwhile, was informed of a statement issued by the Port Authority during the week of the lane closings asserting they were part of a study of traffic-safety patterns — a contention that has since been undermined. The same spokesman, Michael Drewniak, engaged in expletive-laced name-calling of reporters who were looking into the closures, and the agency repeatedly ignored outside inquiries at the behest of New Jersey officials, the emails show. 
 
 
 
 The unfolding scandal has already felled four officials responsible for the lane diversions that began when a high-ranking Christie staffer sent an explosive email: 
 
 “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee.” 
 
 Nothing in the approximately 2,000 documents released on Friday by the Assembly committee investigating the matter suggest that Christie knew of the lane-closure scheme beforehand. And they shed little new light on whether administration officials targeted the Democratic mayor of Fort Lee because he did not endorse Christie. 
 
 But they do show that professionals within the agency predicted a “potential disaster” for motorists. 
 
 And they illustrate that the advice of Samson and Drewniak was often sought as Christie’s loyalists inside and outside the agency fended off inquiries from legislators and media and held firm to their initial assertion that there was a traffic study. The controversy could threaten Christie’s 2016 presidential ambitions. 
 
 Some of the most telling emails involve Samson, a former state attorney general, who appeared to be more concerned about who leaked information to the media, than the traffic tie-ups and hampered public-safety efforts in Fort Lee. 
 
 After the publication of an article about the tie-ups in The Wall Street Journal — about seven weeks before the gubernatorial election — Samson wrote to Scott Rechler, the agency’s vice chairman and a New York appointee. 
 
 The subject of the email was Port Authority Executive Director Pat Foye, also a New York appointee. 
 
 “I am told the ED leaked to the WSJ his story about Fort Lee issues — very unfortunate for NY/NJ relations,” Samson wrote. 
 
 Later, Samson wrote that Foye is “stirring up trouble.” 
 
 “This is yet another example of a story, we’ve seen it before, where he distances himself from an issue in the press and rides in on a white horse to save the day … in this case, he’s playing in traffic, made a big mistake.” 
 
 About two weeks later, David Wildstein, a Christie appointee to the agency who resigned last month, wrote to Christie’s campaign manager. 
 
 “We need to address leaks from Foye and his messing with us 5 weeks before election,” adding that he would speak with Drewniak and Bridget Anne Kelly, who sent the explosive email that set the lane closures in motion. 
 
 Other exchanges between Drewniak and Wildstein came as reporters were seeking more answers about the closures. 
 
 In one, Drewniak referred to a reporter seeking comment on the story as a “mutt,” preceding it with profanity for emphasis. 
 
 In response to an editorial writer from The Star-Ledger asking for reaction to the legislative probe, Drewniak wrote “[Expletive] him and the S-L.” 
 
 And in an early October exchange, Wildstein emailed a newspaper article to the personal email accounts of Drewniak, Christie campaign manager Bill Stepien and now-fired deputy chief of staff Kelly. 
 
 The documents released Friday also referred to other inner-circle Christie officials. In an October email Wildstein sent to Kelly, he said resigned Port Authority executive Bill Baroni “spoke with McKenna over [the] weekend.” Charles McKenna is Christie’s chief counsel. 
 
 An email, sent on the last day of the lane closures to Kelly from Christie aide Christina Genovese Renna, relayed a message another aide took from Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich. 
 
 The email, also forwarded to Wildstein, said Sokolich called the governor’s office to complain, saying “he has no idea why Port Authority decided to do this.” 
 
 “He simply can’t understand why that would be the case however, because he has always been so supportive of the governor,” the email said. “Sokolich explained that the Council wants to organize a press conference with picketers at the foot of the bridge.” 
 
 “The Mayor feels he is about to lose control of the situation and that he looks like a [expletive] idiot,’Ÿ” the email said. 
 
 Wildstein responded: “call me when you have a moment.” 
 
 Although the documents show that agency engineers were keeping track of traffic flow during the closures, two of the Port Authority professionals testified under oath last month that the study seemed odd. 
 
 On Sept. 6, three days before the lane closures began, the authority’s supervisor of planning and operations told other officials that he was “very confused” about the need to close two of the three lanes in Fort Lee. 
 
 “A single toll lane operation invites potential disaster,” the official, Gerard Quelch, wrote in an email. “Even with a three lane operation, motorists experience 5-10 min each morning. It seems like we are punishing all for the sake of a few.” 
 
 Another email, sent on the day the closures started, came to the Port Authority from Fort Lee Borough Administrator Peggy Thomas. It outlined hampered public-safety efforts, including delayed responses to a missing-person call and a cardiac arrest. 
 
 By the end of that day, Robert Durando, the manager of the bridge, sent a message to Cedrick Fulton, the agency’s director of tunnels, bridges and terminals, asking if he’d talked to Wildstein about extending what they called a “TL 24 Test” for another day. 
 
 “We spoke. The test will continue. Good luck,” Fulton replied. 
 
 Staff Writer Michael Phillis contributed to this article. Email: boburg@northjersey.com, reitmeyer@northjersey.com and linhorst@northjersey.com 
 
 The Record's previous coverage 
 
 Sept. 13, 2013 - Road Warrior: Closed tollbooths a commuting disaster 
 
 Sept. 14, 2013 - Road Warrior: Port Authority reveals traffic 'study' 
 
 Oct. 2, 2013 - Port Authority chief's email demands answers to closing of lanes leading to George Washington Bridge 
 
 Nov. 13, 2013 - Port Authority won't address massive September traffic tie-ups on George Washington Bridge 
 
 Nov. 25, 2013 - Port Authority breaks silence on George Washington Bridge delays 
 
 Dec. 2, 2013 - Christie says it's Democrats, not he, playing politics with GWB traffic flap 
 
 Dec. 11, 2013 - Port Authority chairman silent on September lane closures on George Washington Bridge 
 
 Dec. 13, 2013 - Christie's top Port Authority appointee Baroni resigns amid escalating probe into GWB lane closures 
 
 Dec. 19, 2013 - Christie: GWB lane closings 'not that big a deal' 
 
 Dec. 20, 2013 - Fort Lee mayor disputes Christie's claim Port Authority not called over GWB traffic 
 
 Dec. 24, 2013 - Port Authority official was told of traffic woes at George Washington Bridge 
 
 Dec. 28, 2013 - Emails show Port Authority officials were warned of hardships caused by GWB lane closures 
 
 Jan. 1, 2014 - Kelly: Assemblyman says order for GWB traffic tie-up came from outside Port Authority 
 
 Jan. 8, 2014 - Christie stuck in a jam over GWB lane closings 
 
 Jan. 8, 2014 - EMS responses delayed by GWB lane closures in what Fort Lee mayor calls 'absolute power corruption' 
 
 Jan. 8, 2014 - Christie administration may have violated public records law 
 
 Jan. 9, 2014 - Jan. 9, 2014 - Six Bergen County residents file class-action lawsuits over GWB scandal 
 
 Jan. 9, 2014 - Doblin: Christie’s new diet includes a lot of crow 
 
 Jan. 10, 2014 - Christie, Fort Lee mayor describe meeting as 'very productive' 
 
 Jan. 10, 2014 - Assembly panel charges contempt as David Wildstein refuses to testify on GWB scandal 
 
 Jan. 10, 2014 - Kelly: Image of former Christie aide Bridget Anne Kelly doesn't fit resume 
 
 Jan. 10, 2014 - A trail of apologies: Christie repentant, lays blame on key aide ||||| Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey has explanations to make, apologies to give and an administrative house to clean now that his top aides and political cronies were shown to have been fully and gleefully aware of the chaos they caused by ordering up lane closings — and a four-day traffic jam — in September at the George Washington Bridge. 
 
 New Jersey residents had suspected for months that the sudden, mysterious shutdown of traffic lanes to the bridge in Fort Lee, N.J., may have had something to do with the refusal of the town’s mayor, Mark Sokolich, a Democrat, to endorse Mr. Christie for re-election. 
 
 That sounded far-fetched, even for someone known to be as sensitive to slights and as politically belligerent as Mr. Christie. He and his aides said such speculation was crazy talk, and he sarcastically joked that he had done it. “I worked the cones,” he said. “Unbeknownst to anyone, I was working the cones.” 
 
 Related Coverage Christie Faces Scandal on Traffic Jam Aides Ordered 
 
 Turns out it was his old friend David Wildstein, whom Mr. Christie had appointed as director of interstate capital projects at the Port Authority, who ordered the closings. Text messages and emails made public on Wednesday show that Mr. Wildstein and Mr. Christie’s deputy chief of staff, Bridget Anne Kelly, discussed the closings as political payback for Mr. Sokolich, who had no idea the closings were coming. 
 
 The correspondence shows that the lane closings were indeed a stunningly stupid act of petty revenge. They were also an egregious abuse of power. 
 
 “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee,” Ms. Kelly said in an email to Mr. Wildstein in August, a few weeks before the closings. 
 
 Mr. Wildstein replied, “Got it.” 
 
 When the Port Authority’s executive director, Patrick Foye, learned what was happening in Fort Lee, he immediately ordered the lanes reopened, calling the closings dangerous, “abusive,” and probably illegal. Such big changes to traffic patterns are usually announced well in advance. In this case, the vague explanation by Port Authority officials was that they were for a traffic study that nobody else knew anything about. The gridlock was horrendous; Mr. Christie’s aides were lucky that nobody was seriously hurt in the chaos. 
 
 Mr. Christie, caught out on Wednesday, could no longer scoff at or dismiss the scandal, or blame Democrats for it. There were two possible explanations: either he had been pathetically misled by his scheming staff, and failed for months to get to the bottom of the scandal, or he had spent those months dissembling to any and all. His excuse? He was a dupe. 
 
 “What I’ve seen today for the first time is unacceptable,” he said. “I am outraged and deeply saddened to learn that not only was I misled by a member of my staff, but this completely inappropriate and unsanctioned conduct was made without my knowledge.” He added: “This behavior is not representative of me or my administration in any way, and people will be held responsible for their actions.” 
 
 Mr. Christie can start by getting rid of every one of his aides and cronies who knew about this scheme and show what actions he will take against the person with ultimate responsibility for his administration: himself. ||||| Gov. Chris Christie, addressing the Bridgegate scandal in a live radio interview Monday night, said he wants the people of New Jersey to know, “I had nothing to do with this” and “I’m going to fix it.” He also took a swipe at critics he said were engaging in “a game of gotcha.” 
 
 Governor Christie in studio for Ask the Governor on February 3 (Mel Evans, Pool/Associated Press) 
 
 Christie also disclosed that his office has been subpoenaed by the U.S. Attorney’s office in the case and is cooperating fully. 
 
 [SEE FULL BRIDGEGATE COVERAGE] 
 
 In his first appearance on the Townsquare Network’s Ask the Governor program since Dec. 23, Christie was asked by host Eric Scott about the series of explosive developments that have followed, including revelations of emails showing his deputy chief of staff involved in the disruptive closing of approach lanes to the George Washington Bridge last September as apparent political retribution and his own decision to fire her “because she lied” about the matter. 
 
 “I had nothing to do with this,” Christie said, repeating earlier assertions about the lane closings several times Monday night. “No knowledge, no authority, no planning– nothing to do with this before this decision was made to close these lanes by the Port Authority.” 
 
 He added, “While I’m disappointed in what happened here, I’m going to fix it.” He said his office has begun providing documents subpoenaed by the joint state legislative committee investigating the scandal and will do the same in compliance with the subpoenas from the U.S. Attorney. He also referred to the independent law firm he has brought in to conduct an internal investigation, saying: “I can’t wait for them to be finished so I can get the full story here.” 
 
 Asked to be specific about when he first became aware of the lane closings and the massive traffic disruptions they caused in the Fort Lee area last September, Christie referred to reports in the Wall Street Journal about the surprise and outrage expressed by Patrick Foye, the New York-appointed executive director of the Port Authority. 
 
 Foye, after an angry exchange of emails with his New Jersey counterpart, Bill Baroni, then the PA’s deputy director, ordered the Fort Lee approach lanes reopened and vowed “to get to the bottom” of the closings. 
 
 Christie said the stories about Foye’s complaints prompted him to ask his staff to look into the dispute and produced the explanation that the lane closings were part of a traffic study, an explanation rejected by Foye at the time and since undermined by the release of other documents. 
 
 Most damaging among those documents was an email exchange last Aug. 13, in which Christie’s deputy chief of staff, Bridget Anne Kelly, wrote David Wildstein, a Christie appointee at the Port Authority: “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee” and Wildstein repllied, “Got it.” Other emails between the two suggested the lane closings were an act of political retribution against Ford Lee’s mayor for failing to join other Democratic mayors in endorsing Republican Christie for re-election as governor. 
 
 Those emails became public earlier this month, forcing a dramatic two-hour press conference Jan. 8, in which Christie announced he had just fired Kelly “because she lied” about having no knowledge of the lane closing plan. 
 
 Christie insisted Monday night he still did not know whether “political shenanigans” had inspired a traffic study or whether an actual traffic study became an opportunity for such “shenanigans.” 
 
 Wildstein, who resigned his Port Authority post in December, create a new ripple of trouble for the governor last Friday. A letter from his attorney, Alan L. Zegas’ letter to the Port Authority, was published online by The New York Times and quickly picked up by other media. In it, Zegas referred to “evidence” he said would contradict Christie’s claims that he had no knowledge of the lane closings until after they occurred. 
 
 Christie Monday night avoided any direct reference to Wildstein. His office had initially responded Friday by saying the letter did not contradict his assertion that he had no advance involvement or knowledge of the lane closings. A second response, emailed to Politico on Saturday, attacked Wildstein directly, saying: “Bottom line – David Wildstein will do and say anything to save David Wildstein.” The email also took aim at “David Wildstein’s past,” including newspaper accounts describing the governor’s former high school classmate and Port Authority appointee as “tumultuous” and even referring to an incident in which Wildstein “was publicly accused by his high school social studies teacher of deceptive behavior.” 
 
 But the governor did aim an aside at mounting media coverage and political attacks accompanying the ongoing Bridgegate investigations, saying that while he was cooperating fully with the probes, he refused to let Bridgegate “dominate” his attention. 
 
 “I can’t afford to allow this to dominate my time the way it dominates the time of some folks in the media and some partisans,” Christie said. He said he was limiting his own focus on Bridgegate to determining what needed to be corrected, adding, “All this other stuff is just a game of gotcha — when did I first learn about this or that.” 
 
 Of Kelly, who is reportedly resisting subpoenas from the joint legislative committee, citing her constitutional rights against self-incrimination, Christie Monday said, “I know everything I needed to know from an employment standpoint from Bridget Kelly when she didn’t tell me the truth and I fired her.” 
 
 Wildstein appeared before the State Assembly Transportation Committee initially investigating Bridgegate on Jan. 8 but declined to give testimony, citing his constitutional protections against self-incrimination. Zegas, who represented him at the hearing, has repeatedly said his client would only discuss the lane closing plan if given immunity from prosecution. 
 
 Also last Friday, another key Bridgegate figure, speaking through his attorney, said he would not comply with a legislative subpoena. Kevin Marino, the attorney for former Christie campaign manager Bill Stepien sent the joint state Senate and Assembly Bridgegate committee a letter citing Stepien’s constitutional protections against self-incrimination and illegal search and seizure. 
 
 The committee co-chairs, State Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Teaneck) and Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D-Sayreville), later released a statement saying, “We just received Mr. Marino’s letter this afternoon. We are reviewing it and considering our legal options with respect to enforcing the subpoena.” 
 
 Wisniewski and Weinberg said they had also received a copy of the Wildstein letter from Zegas and were reviewing that as well. 
 
 Monday was the deadline for subpoenaed documents to be delivered to the joint legislative committee. Twenty subpoenas were issued by the panel, but several recipients asked for extensions and an undisclosed number of those requests have been granted, the co-chairs said. None of the documents received were made public Monday. 
 
 “The committee has begun receiving material responsive to its subpoenas, with more responses expected in the near future in a cooperative effort with subpoena recipients,” wrote Weinberg and Wisniewski. “Numerous extensions have been granted to subpoena recipients, as is typical in such situations. . . “No documents will be released today. The committee will announce its next step as soon as that course is decided.” 
 
 Christie said Monday night that his office had not requested an extension and has begun providing documents to the committee.” 
 
 Kevin McArdle also contributed to this report. 
 
 Monday, February 3, 2014 – Ask The Governor Audio (click the arrow to listen) 
 
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 STATE HOUSE BUREAU 
 
 The Record 
 
 KEVIN R. WEXLER / STAFF PHOTOGRAPHER Part of the records request sought emails sent between David Wildstein (seen here) — the Christie appointee at the Port Authority who ordered the lane closures — and certain employees in the Governor’s Office. 
 
 Related: Christie says he was misled on GWB lane closures 
 
 Emails disclosed Wednesday raise questions about whether the Christie administration complied with a public-records request filed by The Record last month. 
 
 Full Coverage: Chris Christie and the GWB lane closure controversy 
 
 The newspaper requested documents related to the Port Authority’s decision to close local lanes to the George Washington Bridge in September. Part of that request, filed on Dec. 17 under the state Open Public Records Act, sought emails sent between David Wildstein — the Christie appointee at the Port Authority who ordered the lane closures — and certain employees in the Governor’s Office, including Michael Drewniak, Christie’s spokesman. 
 
 At least one of the documents that became public Wednesday meets that description. Wildstein sent a message from his personal email account to Drewniak’s official account and to a personal account of Bridget Anne Kelly, a member of Christie’s senior staff who emerged Wednesday at the center of the controversy. The Sept. 12 email contained a statement that was later issued by the Port Authority saying that the bridge lane closures were part of a “traffic safety” review. 
 
 Related: EMS responses delayed by GWB lane closures in what Fort Lee mayor calls 'absolute power corruption' 
 
 But Christie’s office did not release that email or any other document in response to The Record’s request. On Dec. 27, the office claimed it “reviewed its records and has not identified any records that are responsive to your request.” 
 
 Kelly’s involvement in the scandal was not publicly known until the documents were released Wednesday; among those was a separate email, sent to Wildstein in August, in which she wrote, “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee.” 
 
 “An accurate response to our records request would have revealed Ms. Kelly’s involvement far sooner than today,” Jennifer Borg, general counsel for North Jersey Media Group, which publishes The Record and Herald News, said in a statement. “This incident underscores the importance of the Open Public Records Act and the loss to New Jerseyans when it is not faithfully followed.” 
 
 Borg said the newspaper was considering its legal options.
– Media outlets have had the better part of a day to pore over thousands of newly released emails and texts related to the Chris Christie traffic mess, and if the New Jersey governor can take one bit of good news from the coverage, it's that none of the documents directly implicate him as having a role in the shutdown of two lanes on the George Washington Bridge. But the trove also means that the story won't be dying down anytime soon. Some of the common angles being emphasized are that Port Authority staffers were warned in advance that the lane closures would be a "potential disaster" for emergency responders and others; Christie-appointed staffers sought to suppress media coverage; and there was nasty infighting between New York and New Jersey port officials. A look at some headlines: Bergen Record: "Vulgarity-laced emails show attempts to silence GWB story" Star-Ledger: "Documents show Port Authority chairman blasting executive director" New York Times: "Bridge Scandal Papers Point to Cover-Up by Chris Christie Allies" New York Post: "Christie appointee ordered officials' silence on Bridgegate" Los Angeles Times: "Bridge emails show Chris Christie aides ignored public safety" Wall Street Journal: "'Disaster' Predicted Before Lane Closures" Sample email, from Patrick Foye, executive director of the Port Authority and an appointee of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo: “I will get to the bottom of this abusive decision which violates everything this agency stands for; I intend to learn how PA [Port Authority] process was wrongfully subverted and the public interest damaged to say nothing of the credibility of this agency." Christie appointees accused him of grandstanding.