Chris Christie on BridgeGate: “What I've seen today for the first time is unacceptable. I am outraged and deeply saddened..."

"For the first time," he makes sure to say.

I didn't think this story was going anywhere, that it was just yet another concocted lefty-blog bit of nonsense.

The allegation against Christie is that he attempted to punish the mayor of Fort Lee, NJ, for not endorsing him for re-election. And that he did so by ordering lanes of the George Washington Bridge shut down, making havoc of traffic.

Christie has previously claimed this was part of routine traffic administration or something.

Well, an email from one of his top aides seems to confirm that some political motive was afoot.

This will probably sink Christie.

“Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee,” Bridget Anne Kelly, one of three deputies on Christie’s senior staff, wrote to David Wildstein, a top Christie executive at the Port Authority, on Aug. 13, about three weeks before the closures. Wildstein, the official who ordered the closures and who resigned last month amid the escalating scandal, wrote back: “Got it.”

Other top Christie associates mentioned in or copied on the email chain, all after the top New York appointee at the authority ordered the lanes reopened, include David Samson, the chairman of the agency; Bill Stepien, Christie’s re-election campaign manager and the newly appointed state GOP chairman; and Michael Drewniak, Christie’s spokesman.

I'll direct you to Hot Air to read the second quote, which is Nuclear.

No, Christie is not in the email chains. But these are his aides, all in agreement on this tactic. Enjoying themselves over traffic snarls, smiling about schoolbusses full of kids stuck in traffic.

AllahPundit sums up Phase 2 of the scandal:

. The next step will be for Kelly to resign (as well as everyone cc’d on her messages?) followed by the requisite Christie statement of ignorance and disappointment.

Well, per my headline, Christie has just issued a statement of ignorance and disappointment.

"What Ive seen today for the first time is unacceptable. 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. One thing is clear: this type of behavior is unacceptable, and I will not tolerate it because the people of New Jersey deserve better. This behavior is not representative of me or my Administration in any way, and people will be held responsible for their actions.”

posted by Ace at 04:45 PM

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