Why did this happen?

Please make sure your browser supports JavaScript and cookies and that you are not blocking them from loading. For more information you can review our Terms of Service and Cookie Policy.</s>Ms. Kelly testified that she discussed the shutdown with the governor before and while it was happening. And the governor’s chief political strategist acknowledged on the stand that Mr. Christie had lied at a December 2013 news conference when he said that senior members of his staff and his campaign chief had assured him they were not involved.

Facing about 50 reporters and television cameras outside the federal courthouse here on Friday, the United States attorney for New Jersey, Paul J. Fishman, said that his office brought charges against only the people it believed a jury would find guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. There was substantial documentary evidence, he said, to corroborate Mr. Wildstein’s testimony about Ms. Kelly and Mr. Baroni, once Mr. Christie’s top staff appointee at the Port Authority.

“We don’t say we have sort of enough, let’s throw it against the wall and see what the jury does,” Mr. Fishman said. “That’s not our job.”

Mr. Christie issued a statement shortly after the verdicts were delivered, again denying any role in the lane closings. “Let me be clear once again,” he said. “I had no knowledge prior to or during these lane realignments, and had no role in authorizing them. No believable evidence was presented to contradict that fact.”

Mr. Fishman, who succeeded Mr. Christie as the United States attorney for New Jersey, declined to specifically address the governor’s comments but pointedly expressed confidence in Mr. Wildstein’s testimony that the governor had been told about the plot.

“When we put witnesses on the stand, we put witnesses on the stand who are corroborated by other evidence,” he said. “And we don’t ask people to testify about things when we think they might not be true.”</s>The trial even ensnared Gov. Cuomo. Wildstein, Kelly and former Port Authority Vice Chair Scott Rechler testified that the governor told the head of the PA, Pat Foye, to "lay off" an inquiry into the real reason for the closures and green light a statement saying a traffic study had been conducted.</s>Two former officials associated with New Jersey governor Chris Christie, a top adviser to Donald Trump, were convicted on all charges linked to the “Bridgegate” scandal.

Bridget Anne Kelly, Mr Christie’s former deputy chief of state, and Bill Baroni, a US-Irish citizen, were found guilty of conspiracy and wire fraud for the 2013 closure of traffic lanes to the George Washington Bridge between New York and New Jersey.

Prosecutors said it was an act of political revenge against a New Jersey Democratic mayor who refused to back the re-election of Mr Christie, a Republican.

Baroni, the governor’s most senior appointment at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which manages the bridge, has strong ties to Ireland. He was abandoned as a child by an Irish mother and raised by a New Jersey couple. He hosted Taoiseach Enda Kenny at the Freedom Tower in lower Manhattan on a St Patrick’s Day visit to New York in 2013.

The Christie appointee received approval from a US judge to travel to Ireland to campaign for the same-sex marriage referendum while he was awaiting trial over the Bridgegate scandal.

The controversy hurt Mr Christie’s presidential bid, despite his efforts to distance himself from the lane closures that caused traffic chaos and public safety issues over five days.

After Friday’s convictions, he repeated that he had no prior knowledge or role in authorising them. Even so, Ms Kelly and key prosecution witness David Wildstein, another Christie associate, testified during the six-week trial that the governor and one-time presidential candidate was aware of the lane closings beforehand and as they happened.

“No believable evidence was presented to contradict that fact,” Mr Christie said in a statement released after the convictions were handed down. “Anything said to the contrary over the past six weeks in court is simply untrue.”

The crimes that Kelly and Baroni have been convicted of carry a maximum sentence of 20 years, but the New Jersey federal prosecutor has signalled that his office will not seek terms that long, more likely one-three years. Sentencing is scheduled for February 21st.

The trial exposed a culture of intimidation within Mr Christie’s administration. Wildstein, a Port Authority official who pleaded guilty in a deal with prosecutors, outlined details of how the governor demanded loyalty and punished those who did not support him or his agenda.

“Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee,” Kelly emailed when Mark Sokolich, the Democratic mayor of Fort Lee across the bridge from New York, refused to endorse Mr Christie.

The Republican is leading Mr Trump’s transition team that will put in place his administration should he win Tuesday’s presidential election. He is due to campaign on behalf of Mr Trump in the battleground states of New Hampshire and Pennsylvania on Saturday.</s>Two former allies of Chris Christie were found guilty of all charges Friday for their roles in the Bridgegate scheme that decimated the New Jersey governor’s White House bid. Former Christie top aide Bridget Anne Kelly and ex-Port Authority executive Bill Baroni face up to 20 years for the most serious charge of wire fraud. The 12-person jury took five days to convict the Christie cronies on all nine counts. Kelly, 44, began weeping immediately after the verdict was announced. Baroni, also 44, showed no emotion.(nydaily.com)…[+]</s>NEW YORK — Two former allies of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie were convicted on Friday for their roles in the “Bridgegate” lane closure scandal, following a six-week trial that served to further tarnish the Republican’s damaged reputation.

Bridget Kelly, the governor’s former deputy chief of staff, and Bill Baroni, former deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, were found guilty in Newark federal court on all counts, the U.S. Attorney’s office in New Jersey said on Twitter.

Kelly and Baroni were convicted of fraud, conspiracy and depriving the residents of Fort Lee, New Jersey, of their civil rights.

Christie, who has repeatedly denied any advance knowledge of the scheme, is a top adviser for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

“Let me be clear once again, I had no knowledge prior to or during these lane realignments, and had no role in authorizing them,” Christie said in a statement following the verdict.

“Anything said to the contrary over the past six weeks in court is simply untrue.”

The scandal has dogged Christie, once seen as a rising political star and a potential presidential nominee before his campaign for the White House failed this year.

The two officials were accused of shutting down access lanes at the George Washington Bridge in September 2013 in Fort Lee, creating a massive days-long traffic jam to punish the town’s mayor, Mark Sokolich, for declining to endorse Christie’s reelection campaign.

The bridge, which connect New Jersey to Manhattan, is one of the country’s busiest.

Lawyers for Kelly and Baroni vowed to appeal.

“This is not over,” Michael Critchley, Kelly’s lawyer, said outside the courthouse, with his arm around a weeping Kelly. He said the judge had erred during jury instructions.

Defense lawyers were furious when U.S. District Judge Susan Wigenton told jurors during deliberations in response to a question that they could convict Kelly and Baroni on conspiracy even if the act itself was not “intentionally punitive toward Mayor Sokolich.”

Wigenton said prosecutors did not have to prove motive, even though their case had revolved around the political retribution.

“By answering the way you’re answering, you’re directing a verdict of guilty,” an angry Critchley told Wigenton on Tuesday.

Baroni’s lawyer, Michael Baldassare, told reporters on Friday the case was a “disgrace” and said the conviction would be overturned.

“I am innocent of these charges,” a smiling Baroni said.

Kelly and Baroni’s co-conspirator, former Port Authority official and confessed mastermind David Wildstein, pleaded guilty and appeared as the government’s star witness, detailing how the three schemed to pay back Sokolich, a Democrat.

But Wildstein also implicated Christie, saying he and Baroni discussed the lane closures with the governor while they were ongoing. Christie, Wildstein testified, laughed at the notion that Sokolich was frustrated by the traffic.

At the time, Christie was eyeing a presidential run, and his aides believed that securing the backing of Democratic officials would burnish his national reputation, according to trial testimony.

Kelly, who took the stand in her defense, testified she had discussed the lane closures with Christie a month beforehand, though she said she thought at the time they were part of a legitimate traffic study.

Legal experts have said it is unlikely Christie would face any criminal consequences based on the trial testimony.

Kelly and Baroni’s lawyers argued that Wildstein had orchestrated the plot himself and told them he was conducting a traffic study. Wildstein said on the stand the three of them knew all along that the study was a bogus cover story.

Prosecutors showed jurors numerous exchanges that Kelly and Baroni each had with Wildstein, who operated as a liaison between Baroni at the Port Authority and Kelly in the governor’s office.

Those included Kelly’s now-infamous email to Wildstein that prosecutors said launched the scheme, in which she wrote, “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee.”</s>Two former officials linked to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's office were found guilty on all charges Friday in connection with the closure of lanes in 2013 on the George Washington Bridge in an act of alleged political retribution, the fallout for which has come to be known as Bridgegate.

Bridget Anne Kelly, the former deputy chief of staff to Christie, and Bill Baroni, the former deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, both faced seven counts of various charges including conspiracy, fraud, and civil rights deprivation.

The verdict is a major setback in Christie's political career, following a controversy that spans nearly three years and put a significant dent in the Garden State Republican's presidential ambitions. Christie is heading planning for Republican nominee Donald Trump's transition if he wins the presidency.

In a statement, the New Jersey governor said he was "saddened" by the case and repeated his long-standing claim that he had no knowledge of the plot to close lanes as an act of political retribution.

"As a former federal prosecutor, I have respected these proceedings and refused to comment on the daily testimony from the trial," Christie said in the statement. "I will set the record straight in the coming days regarding the lies that were told by the media and in the courtroom."

Christie has also functioned as a high profile surrogate for Trump, and was included on a schedule of campaign stops in New Hampshire this weekend put out by the organization. CNN has reached out to the Trump campaign for comment and not yet gotten a response. The news comes after nearly five days of deliberations from the jury. Sentencing is scheduled for February 21 in the same courtroom. The defense attorney for Kelly said they planned to appeal the verdict and request a new trial. Defense attorneys for both defendants had filed a motion for a mistrial Thursday before the verdict came down Friday. Kelly and Baroni each face a maximum sentence of 86 years, according to Paul Fishman, the federal prosecutor in the case. Kelly and her family were visibly emotional while the verdict was read, while Baroni stared at the jury before hugging his family. Prosecutors alleged that the lane closures on the George Washington Bridge were part of a deliberate effort to punish the Democratic mayor of Fort Lee, New Jersey, who did not endorse the Republican incumbent Christie in his 2013 re-election bid. Emails and text messages released in January of 2014 form the basis of the charges. In one particularly damning email, Kelly told former Port Authority official David Wildstein, "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee." Kelly later said her messages contained "sarcasm and humor," and she claims that she had told Christie about traffic problems resulting from a study a day prior to sending the email.</s>Bridget Kelly, the governor's former deputy chief of staff, and Bill Baroni, former deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, were found guilty in Newark federal court on all counts, the U.S. Attorney's office in New Jersey said on Twitter.

Kelly and Baroni were convicted of fraud, conspiracy and depriving the residents of Fort Lee, New Jersey, of their civil rights.

The two officials were accused of shutting down access lanes at the George Washington Bridge in September 2013, creating a massive days-long traffic jam to punish a local mayor for declining to endorse Christie's reelection campaign.

Fort Lee lies at the New Jersey end of the bridge, which carries traffic across the Hudson river to northern Manhattan.

Their co-conspirator, a former Port Authority official and confessed mastermind David Wildstein, pleaded guilty and appeared as the government's star witness, detailing how the three schemed to pay back Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich, a Democrat.

But Wildstein also implicated Christie, saying he and Baroni discussed the lane closures with the governor while they were ongoing. Christie, Wildstein testified, laughed at the notion that Sokolich was frustrated by the traffic.

At the time, Christie was eyeing a presidential run, and his aides believed that securing the backing of Democratic officials would burnish his national reputation, according to trial testimony.

Christie, who has not been charged, has steadfastly denied any knowledge of the scheme, either before or during the closures. Legal experts have said it is unlikely he would face any criminal consequences based on the trial testimony.

But the fallout from the scandal has dogged Christie for three years, helping to scuttle his bid for the Republican presidential nomination. Christie is serving as a key adviser to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump.

Testimony at the trial, including from Kelly and Baroni, both of whom took the stand in their defense, laid bare how the Christie administration used the Port Authority to help officials who backed the governor and to hurt those who did not.</s>(CNN) New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was not on trial in connection with the so-called Bridgegate scandal, but the case has thrown into question the political future of the once-rising Republican star.

After more than a month of testimony, a federal jury in Newark on Friday returned guilty verdicts against Christie's former deputy chief of staff, Bridget Kelly, and Bill Baroni, former deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

They were each convicted of seven criminal counts -- including conspiracy and fraud -- for their roles in the September 2013 lane closures on the Fort Lee, New Jersey, side of the George Washington Bridge. Testimony at trial shone an unflattering light on the way business was conducted in the Christie administration.

Prosecutors alleged the lane closures, which paralyzed traffic across the bridge from Upper Manhattan, were part of a plot to punish the Democratic mayor of Fort Lee, who declined to endorse Christie in his 2013 re-election campaign.

Christie has long denied knowing about the closures, and he hasn't been charged with any crime.

But the former presidential candidate has been unable to elude scrutiny from a political scandal that tarnished his second term as governor.

Now that the Bridgegate trial is over, what's possibly next for Christie?

"Let me be clear once again, I had no knowledge prior to or during these lane realignments, and had no role in authorizing them," he said in a statement. "No believable evidence was presented to contradict that fact. Anything said to the contrary over the past six weeks in court is simply untrue."

Still, the door remains open for criminal charges, according to legal experts.

Such a prosecution, however, is highly unlikely.

The Bergen County prosecutor's office would have to decide whether there is enough evidence to present the case to a grand jury, which would then decide on an indictment. Prosecutors have wide discretion on filing charges.

The Bridgegate trial stemmed in part from a series of damning emails and texts made public in January 2014.

For instance, one month before the lane closures, with Christie's re-election campaign in full swing, Kelly texted David Wildstein, a former Port Authority official and a political ally of the governor's: "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee."

On the stand, Kelly characterized her messages as "sarcasm and humor." She testified that she told Christie about a planned traffic study and potential traffic problems one day before sending that email.

While at ground zero in Manhattan during a memorial event on September 11, 2013, Baroni and Wildstein, then the Port Authority director of interstate capital projects, discussed the traffic issues with Christie, Wildstein testified.

Wildstein, the admitted mastermind of the lane closures, testified that Baroni told Christie: "Governor, I have to tell you there's a tremendous amount of traffic in Fort Lee this morning, major traffic jams." Wildstein said Baroni had a sarcastic tone during the conversation.

The lane closures, which began two days earlier on September 9, 2013, lasted four days.

"You'll be pleased to know that Mayor (Mark) Sokolich is having trouble getting his telephone calls returned," Baroni continued, according to Wildstein.

Wildstein said that Christie replied, "I imagine he wouldn't be getting his calls returned."

Wildstein avoided trial by pleading guilty to one count of conspiracy to commit fraud on federally funded property and one civil rights violation.

In the complaint, Bill Brennan accused the governor of official misconduct, saying Christie "knowingly refrained from ordering that his subordinates take all necessary action to re-open local access lanes to the George Washington Bridge from Fort Lee, New Jersey, that had been closed with purpose to injure Fort Lee mayor Mark Sokolich."

Christie appealed the case, which spokesman Brian Murray called "a dishonorable complaint filed by a known serial complainant and political activist with a history of abusing the judicial system."

Stuart Green, a Rutgers University law professor, said it may be difficult to prove misconduct.

"Even if he knew (about the lane closings), that's probably not good enough," he said. "Absent some smoking gun that he was himself involved in the planning of the closings, it just seems to me that it would be too hard to get a conviction."

Still, a move by the state Legislature to impeach Christie would be more likely than criminal charges, according to Green.

"To bring a criminal prosecution with criminal penalties is to give that sort of political check to the criminal courts. And I think there's good reason to think that that's dangerous," said Green, referring to the perils of politicians using the criminal justice system to punish political adversaries.

Some state Assembly members have publicly discussed impeachment, but Democrats have said it would be a waste of time since Christie will be out of office soon.

"In modern times, no sitting governor of New Jersey has ever been impeached or charged with a crime," said Brigid Callahan Harrison, a professor of political science and law at New Jersey's Montclair State University.

Recent unpopular governors have been voted out of office, and the only one embroiled in scandal resigned, Harrison said.

In 2004, Gov. James McGreevey resigned halfway through his term after revealing that he is gay and admitting an extramarital affair with a male staffer.

The state Constitution is vague in terms of the grounds for impeachment: "The Governor and all other State officers, while in office and for two years thereafter, shall be liable to impeachment for misdemeanor committed during their respective continuance in office."

The Assembly has the power to begin impeachment proceedings. A majority vote among its 80 members would lead to a trial in the state Senate. The chief justice of the state Supreme Court would preside. A two-thirds vote by senators is required for a conviction, which could lead to removal from office and a disqualification of holding any other public office in the state.

But impeachment is a drawn-out process. The governor's term expires in January 2018.

Harrison said it would be unusual for lawmakers to pursue impeachment, because the Democratic-controlled Legislature prefers to have its gubernatorial nominee next year run against Christie's legacy, rather than give the Republican lieutenant governor an opportunity to start the race with a clean slate.

An ethics complaint over Christie's handling of the lane closures could result in disbarment or lesser sanctions such as a censure or reprimand. Christie was US attorney for the District of New Jersey from 2002 to 2008.

"They'd have to find a fairly close connection between him and the (lane closure) orders," Fordham University law professor James Cohen said of the state office of attorney ethics. "On the other hand, the standard of proof, of course, in that context is not beyond a reasonable doubt."

Rutgers law professor John Leubsdorf said most grounds for disbarring lawyers turn on acts committed in the representation of a client -- which wouldn't apply to Christie in this case.

However, there are exceptions to the New Jersey Rules of Professional Conduct, which say a lawyer may not commit a criminal act that reflects adversely on the lawyer's honesty, trustworthiness or fitness as a lawyer in other respects; engage in conduct involving dishonesty, fraud, deceit or misrepresentation; or engage in conduct that is prejudicial to the administration of justice.

"The first of these requires only that the lawyer 'commit' a crime, whether or not he's been convicted," Leubsdorf said.

"In practice, I doubt that the disciplinary authorities would want to try a complex criminal case, but in theory they could. As to the second, I'm not up on everything the governor might have done, but if he lied to the public about his knowledge of what was happening, that seems to qualify."

Leubsdorf added, "In short, the governor could be disciplined if he was dishonest, or (in theory but probably not in practice) if the disciplinary system found he committed a crime."

Will there be other investigations?

Some experts believe Bridgegate could lead to other investigations.

Federal prosecutors said the traffic-choking lane closures were intended to punish Fort Lee's mayor for not supporting Christie's re-election bid.

"In my mind, the key question that has emerged as a result of trial concerns the idea of a quid pro quo surrounding endorsement," Harrison said.

"That raises the question of what the 60 Democrats who did endorse Christie received for their endorsements. That is the landmine where corruption could potentially be demonstrated: Was there a quid pro quo for endorsements received? If I were the state Legislature, that's the question I'd be asking."

Were mayors who endorsed Christie rewarded in any way?

"There's the punishment, but there's also I'm sure the reward," said Julian Zelizer, a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University and a CNN contributor.

"What were the rewards? Were the rewards legitimate? Or, as with the punishment, were there certain rewards that were beyond the boundaries of what should be permissible?"

Though Christie has said he plans to retire from public life at the end of his term, a victory by Republican Donald Trump in the presidential election could breathe new life into the governor's political career. Christie heads the team planning a potential Trump administration.

Christie, who is 54, could always decide on another presidential run.

"Lots of people recover," said Ben Dworkin, a political science professor at Rider University. "It's politics. We have second and third acts. Richard Nixon came back.

But Christie's tenure has not endeared him with the state GOP, according to Harrison.

"Behind closed doors, most Republicans will tell you that they are waiting for Christie era to be over so that they can begin the process of rebuilding," she said.

Others said they believe Christie has been hurt politically by his association with Trump.

"I don't know whether law firms would consider him toxic," Cohen said. "I don't know that anybody is going to welcome him with open arms in terms of a law firm. I think that significant, big corporations are going to say he's maybe not the guy we want as the face of our company in court."

Cohen added, "I'm not saying he's going to be on the street with a tin can, but I think his prospects don't look perhaps as exciting as they did when he threw his hat in the ring. I could see him doing a politics show with Trump."</s>Two former aides to Gov. Chris Christie were convicted Friday of creating an epic traffic jam at the George Washington Bridge for what prosecutors say was political revenge, capping a trial that cast doubt on Christie’s claims he knew nothing about the scheme.

Bridget Kelly, Christie’s former deputy chief of staff, and Bill Baroni, a Christie appointee to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, were found guilty of all counts against them.

The most serious charges carry up to 20 years in prison. Sentencing was scheduled for Feb. 21.

The federal jury took five days to reach a verdict in the scandal that helped sink Christie’s Republican campaign for president.

Christie has denied any knowledge of the scheme beforehand or while it was going on and has not been charged.

Prosecutors said Kelly and Baroni plotted with Christie ally David Wildstein to close lanes at the bridge and create gridlock in September 2013 to punish the Democratic mayor of Fort Lee for not endorsing Christie for re-election. Wildstein, a high-ranking Port Authority official, pleaded guilty to orchestrating the scheme and was the prosecution’s star witness.

Kelly and Baroni testified they believed the lane closings were part of a legitimate traffic study because, they said, that was what Wildstein told them.

The defence portrayed Wildstein as a liar and a dirty trickster — “the Bernie Madoff of New Jersey politics” — and argued that Christie and his inner circle had thrown the 44-year-old Kelly under the bus.

“They want that mother of four to take the fall for them. Cowards. Cowards,” Kelly attorney Michael Critchley said in a thundering closing argument.

One of the most damning pieces of evidence was an email in which Kelly wrote: “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee.” Then, as the four days of gridlock unfolded and Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich complained about children unable to get to school, she texted: “Is it wrong that I am smiling?”

On the stand, Kelly explained that she was referring to what she thought was a traffic study and expressing satisfaction that it was going well. As for why Kelly deleted the messages, her lawyer suggested she was afraid she was about to be made the scapegoat.

Kelly, Baroni and Wildstein all testified that Christie was informed about the lane closings either before or while they were going on, contrary to the governor’s repeated denials.

Wildstein, for example, said that Christie was told about the traffic jam as it was happening and that he laughed and sarcastically joked that nothing political was going on when he learned of Sokolich’s distress over not getting his calls returned.

But it was not clear from Wildstein’s testimony whether Christie knew the bumper-to-bumper mess was manufactured for political reasons. And Kelly testified that she told Christie the lane-closings were a traffic study when she informed him of the plans about a month ahead of time.

Siding with prosecutors, U.S. District Judge Susan Wigenton told jurors they didn’t have to find that Kelly and Baroni knowingly intended to punish Sokolich in order to convict them of conspiracy.

The gridlock at the foot of the nation’s busiest bridge — a span that connects New Jersey to New York City — began on the first day of school and held up commuters, school buses and emergency vehicles. Sokolich’s pleas went unanswered for four days — on orders from Wildstein, the defendants testified.

At the time, Christie was considered a top GOP presidential contender and was trying to run up a big landslide re-election victory to demonstrate his crossover appeal as a White House candidate.

Christie ultimately dropped out of the presidential race after a poor showing in the New Hampshire primary and said recently that the scandal probably influenced Donald Trump’s decision not to pick him as his running mate. Christie is a now a top Trump adviser and has campaigned for him.

While the trial did not definitively pin the scheme on Christie, it reinforced his reputation among his critics as a bully, with accounts of profane tirades, threats of bodily harm and tough-guy posturing among the governor and his inner circle that seemed straight out of “The Sopranos.”

Christie once threw a water bottle at Kelly in anger, she testified. And Wildstein told the jury that Christie called him “Mr. Wolf,” after the character in the movie “Pulp Fiction” who is called in to clean up dead bodies.

According to testimony, Christie’s office also used the Port Authority to punish or reward local politicians. Among the goodies the agency dispensed were pieces of steel from the original World Trade Center, destroyed on 9-11.

Associated Press writer Ula Ilnytzky contributed to this report.
Two former associates of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, former deputy chief of staff Bridget Kelly and ex-Port Authority executive Bill Baroni, are found guilty on all seven counts by a federal jury from their roles in the so-called Bridgegate scandal that created crippling traffic near the George Washington Bridge in September 2013.