When federal prosecutors want to talk to someone on a Sunday, it should sound a really loud alarm bell for the people being investigated. Yes, it’s more bad news for Chris Christie this Sunday evening, as the allegations discussed make the Republican Governor’s Bridgegate scandal look like child’s play.
Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer said she met with federal prosecutors today at their request, to discuss her allegations that Christie’s lieutenant governor threatened to withhold Sandy aid on behalf of the Governor, unless she approved a development project.
Ryan Hutchins at The Star-Ledger revealed that Zimmer said she met for hours with staff from the U.S. Attorney’s Office today, and she turned over documents including a copy of her daily journal.
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Zimmer said she met for hours this afternoon with staff from the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Newark, providing a copy of her daily journal and other documents. Zimmer, who leveled the bombshell allegation on Saturday, said the meeting was requested by prosecutors.
“As they pursue this investigation, I will provide any requested information and testify under oath about the facts of what happened when the lieutenant governor came to Hoboken and told me that Sandy aid would be contingent on moving forward with a private development project,” Zimmer said in a statement.
According to Hutchins, the U.S. Attorney’s Office would neither confirm nor deny the meeting, as is their protocol.
On Saturday, Mayor Zimmer claimed in an explosive interview that the governor is holding over $100 million in Sandy relief funds hostage because she refuses to approve a project for a private developer in her city. Zimmer said, “The fact is, the Lt. Gov came to Hoboken, and she pulled me aside in the parking lot and she said, ‘I know that it’s not right, I know that this thing should not be connected, but they are. And if you tell anyone, I’ll deny it.'”
Hutchins pointed out that Zimmer claimed on CNN today that this threat was a direct message from Governor Christie, “And she said that she had been with him on Friday night and this was a direct message from the governor.”
This is the kind of really bad news that Christie had better hope can’t be proven. If the documents Zimmer provided to U.S. attorneys back up this explosive claim, it’s a direct connection to Chris Christie and it makes Bridgegate pale in comparison. And if the city of Hoboken hasn’t gotten the aid it was supposed to get, the Christie administration has some explaining to do. But even if they manage to explain it away and Zimmer can’t prove the threat was made, the steady stream of allegations from different sources paint an ugly picture of Chris Christie.
Americans don’t want someone who behaves like a mob boss in the White House. It’s that simple.
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