In Bridgegate Testimony, Christie Emerges as Powerful, Threatening Figure
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By attempting to show that Baroni was a Christie insider (a prosecutor) elicited an image of a hands-on governor who is eager to settle scores with his political opponents. One example: The incident of Bill Lavin, a former firefighters union official who had criticized Christie on the radio.
Baroni testified, "...My phone rang. It was the governor...He said, ‘Bill I need you to do something for me.' He said, 'You call Bill Lavin and tell him the governor said go f-- yourself'... I said, 'I can’t tell a friend that.'"
The governor...said, "'You like your job?'" Baroni testified. So Baroni...called Bill Lavin...
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...Baroni testified in front of a U.S. Senate committee that was chaired by the late U.S. Senator Frank Lautenberg....(who) had been vocally displeased about Christie's cancellation of a transit tunnel under the Hudson River, and about the Port Authority's raising of tolls on the Hudson River crossing.
Baroni...embarrassed Lautenberg with reams of data compiled by Wildstein, showing Lautenberg's frequent use of free toll crossings when Lautenberg was a Port Authority commissioner.
"Didn’t Chris Christie tell you to 'go down there and punch Frank Lautenberg in the face?'" (the) prosecutor...demanded. "You decided on your own you were going to talk to Frank Lautenberg in that way?"
"Gov. Christie gave me instructions, his instructions were pretty clear," Baroni replied. Christie, Cortes said, was "thrilled" with Baroni's performance.
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NJ.com: "My view was that David Wildstein was a dangerous character within the Port Authority," (said) Scott Rechler, an outgoing Port Authority commissioner who served as deputy chairman when the lane closures occurred.
He (also) testified that he saw Wildstein, as "cancer" within the agency who created a "culture of fear." But...Wildstein could not be fired because he was protected politically by then-Port Authority Chairman David Samson, a key ally of Christie.
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NorthJersey.com: Kelly tearfully told the jury that she was frightened by Christie after receiving profane put-downs...(W)hen she suggested that Christie should open a public event and then pass control to other officials, he threw a water bottle...shouting: “What do you think I am, a (expletive) game show host?” ...(T)he bottle struck her arm.
(Her attorney) asked Kelly, “You’re afraid of the governor?”
With tears in her eyes, Kelly said, “Yes. Yes.”
“He’s a big tough guy, eh?”
“Yes,” Kelly said.
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NorthJersey.com: “...Christie, and the private investigators his office hired, have maintained that the Intergovernmental Affairs department led by Stepien did not become politicized until after he left and turned over duties to Bridget Anne Kelly...
But such terms as “the political shop,” as well as other testimony and evidence in the trial, have sharply contradicted those assertions and showed Stepien — who now works for Donald Trump’s presidential campaign — and his staff regularly mixing politics with policy, raising serious questions of ethics violations in the governor’s office and suggesting instances of quid pro quo..."
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Christie micromanages like this, and we're supposed to believe that news of the lane closings hit him like a lighting bolt out of a clear sky!
Coming soon: more testimony from the co-defendant...
