New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie knew about the lane closing at the George Washington Bridge at the time of the closure according to claims from a Port Authority official who resigned his position in December.
Christie has previously said he knew nothing of the lane closings until the Port Authority ordered the lanes to be reopened, but the New York Times reported that a letter written by the attorney of David Wildstein, the port official and former classmate of Christie's, says otherwise.
The letter available online states: "It has also come to light that a person within the Christie administration communicated the Christie administration's order that certain lanes on the George Washington Bridge were to be closed, and evidence exists as well tying Mr. Christie to having knowledge of the lane closures, during the period when the lanes were closed,..."
Wildstein left the Port Authority in December after officials were accused of closing lanes of the bridge to punish the Fort Lee mayor. Mayor Mark Sokolich, a democrat, did not endorse Christie for re-election.
Wildstein's lawyer was requesting that the Port Authority pay for Wildstein's legal fees. The letter does not say what evidence exists tying Christie to the bridge closure order.
So far, Sokolich has told CNN that the letter doesn't prove that Christie had knowledge of the closings before they occurred.
Christie said the letter proves what he has said all along: "he had absolutely no prior knowledge of the lane closures before they happened and whatever Mr. Wildstein's motivations were for closing them to begin with." according to a statement reported by Time.
Two of three lanes of the bridge were closed for five days in September under the guise of a traffic study snarling traffic. See a full time line of the bridge scandal online at NJ.Com.
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