The New Jersey US Attorney’s Office and the FBI have spent a year investigating the September 2013 closing of access lanes at the George Washington Bridge, which caused unprecedented traffic jams for the better part of a week and crippled Fort Lee, where the GWB is anchored in New Jersey. It has been alleged that the lanes were closed as political payback for the Democratic mayor of Fort Lee after he declined to endorse Christie’s gubernatorial re-election in 2013, though Christie has repeatedly denied it.
The GWB lane scandal was simmering for much of late 2013, but only burst into national headlines a year ago Thursday when it was revealed that a deputy chief of staff to Christie, Bridget Kelly, had sent an email that appeared to green-light the closing of two out of three local-access lanes to the span – the most heavily traveled in the country. The bridge is operated by the Port Authority, which is controlled jointly by the governors of New Jersey and New York.
Kelly’s words – contained in emails submitted to a state legislature investigative committee – thrust Christie and his inner circle into a crisis first marked by a marathon Statehouse news conference and then two months of dodging questions on the incident. During the meeting with reporters a year ago today, Christie said, “I have nothing to hide. So any questions anybody wants to ask me, they can ask, you know. From law enforcement, you know, anything they want to ask, they can ask. So we have nothing to hide, and this administration has nothing to hide.”
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