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New Jersey Port Authority expert Scott Raab of Esquire revealed Monday in an exclusive that Governor Christ Christie’s (R-NJ) prosecutor just got David Wildstein to start spilling the beans.
Bad news for Chris Christie — and very good news for the citizens of New Jersey: Esquire has learned from sources close to the investigation that David Wildstein, the former Port Authority operative who helped plan and execute the Great Fort Lee Clusterfk, is now cooperating with Paul Fishman, the federal prosecutor investigating the soon-to-be-ex-governor and his minions for criminal conduct. Fishman has also increased the number of investigators at work on the case, and has begun presenting evidence and witnesses to a grand jury in Newark.
Wildstein had previously refused to testify, taking refuge under the 5th Amendment.
Raab notes that lawyers for both star witnesses (Bridget Kelly and David Wildstein) “said their clients would cooperate with investigators in exchange for immunity from prosecution.”
David Wildstein is the person who responded to the email, “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee” with “Got it” and he is also the person who in January of this year accused the Republican Governor of knowing about Bridgegate, a charge Christie vehemently denies.
The New York Times explained in January that Wildstein said the order to close the bridge was a Christie administration’s order and said he had evidence that tied Christie to the closure:
In a letter released by his lawyer, the official, David Wildstein, a high school friend of Mr. Christie’s who was appointed with the governor’s blessing at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which controls the bridge, described the order to close the lanes as “the Christie administration’s order” and said “evidence exists as well tying Mr. Christie to having knowledge of the lane closures, during the period when the lanes were closed, contrary to what the governor stated publicly in a two-hour press conference” three weeks ago.
In other words, smoking gun Wildstein is going to testify.
This is super bad news for Christie, because not only is this a federal investigation, but it is, as of April 4th, a criminal probe, after the U.S. Attorney in New Jersey convened a grand jury to investigate the George Washington Bridge scandal.
It’s looking like Chris Christie exonerating himself with lawyers he hired is not working out as well as he had planned. The revenge of those tossed under the Christie bus continues.
Corrected 1:30 PM: This post has been updated to reflect that David Wildstein was not the author of the “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee” email, but rather he responded to it.
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