Bruce Springsteen Mocks New Jersey Governor

Kathleen · #**281** 10-25-2016, 12:01 AM

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Originally Posted by rocknation

But then again, this is what comes of being unable defend yourself without implicating someone else. There's a special legal term for it -- GUILTY.

Exactly - guilty as hell.

rocknation · #**282** 10-25-2016, 06:30 PM

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..."

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...

rocknation · #**283** 10-26-2016, 12:15 AM

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Lohud.com: Baroni (was)...asked whether Kelly represented “Trenton,” shorthand for the Christie Administration. Baroni told the court: “The instructions from Trenton were going to come from Miss Kelly.”

Sitting at the defense table on the other side of the courtroom, Kelly shook her head.

And sitting on the witness stand, Kelly shook her throat, singing better than Aretha Franklin and Adele combined.

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NorthJersey.com: After nearly three years of silence...Kelly took the witness stand...and ...described her role in the administration as a sort of stagehand, responsible for making sure the governor’s public events were properly organized and his social events were catered to his liking...

Stagehand? She flatters herself -- she was a go-between between Christie and Wildstein because they both knew they'd need a fall guy.

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Kelly said that Wildstein mentioned to her in early 2011 that the access lanes to the bridge in Fort Lee were “something that at some point the Port Authority was going to look at.” Then in June 2013...Wildstein told Kelly that he had spoken with (Port Authority) engineers...and the police department “to put together what would be a study or a review of these lanes" (and) to be sure she “ran this by the governor.”

"Run it by the governor" for what -- to introduce him to the idea, or to keep him informed of its development?

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Kelly...portrayed herself as a sincere, down-to-earth mother who only took a job in Trenton...so that she could look after herself as her marriage of 15 years fell apart...The new job in the Governor’s Office...bumped her salary...to $83,000 (and) entailed a commute (of) an hour and 45 minutes...(T)he tolls on the New Jersey Turnpike were so expensive she took back roads...

When...asked...to tell the jury the names of her four children, Kelly’s voice cracked...

Boo hoo hoo, and cue the violins!

And by the way, did the marriage collaspe before, during, or after her relationship with Bill Stepien?

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Kelly...said that when she told Christie of the plan Wildstein had proposed, “the governor said that’s typical Wally” ...(On August 12, 2013), (h)e said “OK,” asked when it would happen, and...wanted to know what our relationship was...with Mayor Sokolich,” Kelly said...she didn’t have an answer ready...

Oh? I thought interfacing with local officials was her speciality. Besides, wouldn't the best way to provide Christie with an answer was to interface with Sokolich about the impending traffic study?

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Christie then told Kelly that they should get together for lunch the next day...She was...“a little nervous,” since she had never had lunch with the governor before and she worried about being prepared for any questions or status update requests from him. So around 10:30 that night, she texted Christie’s chief of staff at the time, Kevin O’Dowd, to tell him she wanted to give him “foresight” on “a couple of things,” which she said included the traffic study in Fort Lee.

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Chron.com: Kelly was asked about a text message conversation with Wildstein in which she asked whether it was wrong that she was "smiling" about a note from Sokolich that the traffic was leading to schoolchildren being late. Kelly said she was happy for Wildstein that his traffic study was going well and should have used different words.

And with that testimony, she signed her own death warrant, if you'll pardon the expression. What she was "nervous" and "worried" about was being vulnerable to having left her own immediate superior out of the loop -- without his protection, she knew she was in big trouble!

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WNYC.com: "The governor said he had a conversation with Gov. (Andrew) Cuomo and he told Gov. Cuomo to tell (Port Authority New York executive director) Pat Foye to back the f*** off." - Kelly said she was in Christie's office as he recounted this conversation to a group of advisers. Foye was the Cuomo appointee who reopened the lanes to end Bridgegate. Christie and Cuomo have repeatedly insisted no such conversation took place.

And with that testimony, Kelly also signed Christie's death warrant: it makes him a full-fledged participant in the the coverup if not the crime itself -- especially since it also implicates David Samson, which in turns opens the door for Paul Fishman And His Fabulous Feds to take a closer look at his relationship with Christie. I was hoping she'd specifically say that Christie specifically told her to tell Wildstein to put the lane closings into motion, but this will do -- especially since both governors initially said he they didn't remember having such a conversation No problem, though, if there were witnesses!

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NorthJersey.com:(On) Aug. 13, 2013, Kelly and Christie met for lunch...(T)he same day, Kelly sent Wildstein the “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee” email, to which he replied, “Got it.”

...Kelly said it was “absolutely not” an order to block access to the bridge for retribution. The message was sent “in a very quick manner” using words that Wildstein had often used...“'Traffic problems' were just two words that went together when you talked to David about the Port Authority...If I (had) said 'time for a traffic study' in Fort Lee, we wouldn’t all know each other.”

That's true -- that is, not if the traffic study wasn't MEANT to cause traffic problems. But wasn't the point of Wildstein "getting" the message from her was that she had "got it" from Christie? Wasn't HE included in her "we all"?

rocknation · #**284** 10-28-2016, 10:35 PM

Here's a suicidal little gem from Bridge(t)'s cross-examination:

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NJ.com: By turns defiant and...near tears, Kelly insisted that the e-mails and text messages were at times a "totally poor choice of words," but were written quickly as banter...She also contradicted the testimony of...Matt Mowers, a former staffer under Kelly...(who said) Kelly...called a month before the lane closures to ask whether the mayor of Fort Lee was going to endorse Gov. Chris Christie for re-election. He said he told her there was no chance, and said she replied that was all she needed to know. Kelly...said she was prompted to call Mowers to get information asked by the governor...and that the call was not brief...

Kelly was also questioned about the testimony of Christopher Stark, who also worked for Kelly and testified that when a meeting with Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop was cancelled, she told him it was because the newly elected mayor "was playing both sides of the fence" by getting together with...the Democratic challenger to Christie in 2013. "I wouldn't have had that conversation with Chris Stark," Kelly said.

"So his testimony is false?" she was asked.

"His memory is not what mine is," she replied.

Taking orders directly from Christie -- there's that clandestine chain of command again! And Kelly seems to have a clandestine memory, too. Was one of the pieces of information Christie asked her to get from Mowers have to do with Fulop's endorsement, or was it not? And if she didn't tell Chris Stark that Fulop was being punished, why didn't she simply say so? Take your silver spoon, dig your grave...

rocknation · #**285** 10-29-2016, 07:12 PM

Prior to closing arguments, the Bridge(t)-Gate judge formally reviewed and explained the charges to the jury:

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NorthJersey.com: The closing arguments in the six-week trial...were unexpectedly delayed...when...Judge Susan Wigenton sent the jury home, citing “legal issues.” (Both) prosecut(ion) and defense lawyers declined to explain the reason for the delay...

During a closed-door conference...lawyers hammered out language for the judge’s instructions to the jury...Wigenton decided that prosecutors do not need to prove that Bridget Anne Kelly and Bill Baroni closed the bridge access lanes with the intention of punishing the mayor of Fort Lee. "They are not charged with punishing Mayor Sokolich, they’re charged with misusing...the Port Authority resources,” Wigenton said (in) a court transcript...

“I thought I was defending a charge that...was an allegation that Bridget Kelly and Mr. Baroni entered into activity to intentionally punish Mayor Sokolich for not endorsing,” Kelly’s lawyer...told Wigenton, according to a transcript...“Now, I don’t know what I’m defending.”

...(But) Baroni’s attorney...lobbied the judge to include the language. “They tried a punishment case...They...brought this indictment; they called it punishment. That’s the case we’ve tried for six weeks...If they want, dismiss the indictment, see if they can re-indict... and we’ll come back.”

Kelly's lawyer is confusing motive and intent, and Baroni's lawyer is just plain confused. The issue isn't that people decided to punish Sokolich (and also, possibly, the developer who beat out a David Samson client on a Ft. Lee real estate deal), but that they punished him by committing illegal acts.

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...(The) Assistant U.S. Attorney requested the judge remove the language... “(A)s a matter of law...the object of the conspiracy is to commit the substantive offense... (B)eyond that, it is superfluous.”

Maybe so, but conspiracy isn't the only thing they're being charged with. Besides, in America, the prosecution NEVER has to prove motive -- only that something illegal happened. If a jury agrees that the prosecution proved beyond a reasonable doubt that a criminal act had indeed been committed, the reason WHY it was committed is what's superfluous -- the defendant is guilty.

rocknation · #**286** 10-30-2016, 02:47 AM

The prosecution's closing argument

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NorthJersey.com: In a summation lasting about four hours, Assistant U.S. Attorney Lee Cortes said that Kelly, the governor’s former deputy chief of staff, and Baroni, the governor’s former top executive appointee at the Port Authority, “shared an intense commitment to the political success of Governor Chris Christie...They saw themselves as his loyal lieutenants who were free to use their government jobs to launch political attacks and who never attempted to separate politics from their jobs in public service..."

Loyal lieutenants so intensely committed to Christie, they deliberately kept their loyalty a secret from him, LOL!

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With so much riding on Wildstein’s testimony, Cortes emphasized that Wildstein’s...agreement with prosecutors depends upon him testifying truthfully.(They) will request leniency when Wildstein, who faces up to 15 years in prison, is sentenced. Cortes added that much of what Wildstein told the court was corroborated by documents, emails, text messages, phone records and testimony.

Glad to hear about the corroboration, since the jury could decide not to believe a single thing Wildstein says simply because they don't like him. But in turn, that certainly doesn't mean that the defendants are telling the truth by default!

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Politico.com: Cortes cited...Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich (who) called, emailed and texted Baroni asking for help...as first responders struggled to deal with a missing child and a cardiac arrest...Baroni's motivations are made clear by what he didn’t do — respond to Sokolich...and (by) his subsequent testimony...in Trenton, which prosecutors have cast as an elaborate attempt to cover up the plot.

Actually, what Baroni chose to do was obey Christie's orders: no point tipping him off about what he already knew -- especially since it was exactly was what he wanted.

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NorthJersey.com: ...Cortes said..Kelly portrayed herself as a cog in the Christie machine, fearful of the governor’s temper...But (she) was “one of the 10 most senior advisers to the governor” and a protégé of Bill Stepien, Christie’s former campaign manager, who played hardball with political opponents.

Protégé, not social secretary. And don't forget that Kelly and Stepien also had a romantic relationship: so much for her frail, helpless, damsel-in-distress routine.

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Both defendants, Cortes said...“had a higher responsibility...and that responsibility was to make...decision(s) in the best interests of the people of New Jersey...not what they believed was in the best interests of Bill Baroni or Bridget Kelly or Chris Christie.”

The best interests of Bill Baroni and Bridget Kelly WAS the best interests of Chris Christie. Remember, it's the illegal things they did, not the reasons why they did them. So it's very clever of Cortes to place Christie squarely on top of the pyramid (a metaphor, not a weight joke) even though he was never charged or called as a witness.

rocknation · #**287** 10-31-2016, 09:57 PM

Closing Arguments: Defendant #1

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NJ.com: Michael Baldassare, who represents Baroni, focused his closing arguments almost entirely on Wildstein..."They built their case around him," he declared...(and) claimed Wildstein would say anything to stay out of jail. "All you have is his words," he said.

AND the hard drive he took from your client, counselor!

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Baldassare...said testimony of other Port Authority officials painted Wildstein as a feared and hated man who could not be fired because of his claimed connections with Christie. Yet "They would never put Chris Christie on the stand (b)ecause all he would have said on that stand is that David Wildstein is a liar..."

Well, YOU didn't put him on the stand, either, counselor! What did YOU have to fear from Christie -- that he say that HE'D lied about approving your client's hiring of Wildstein?

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...(H)e argued..."The notion that Bill Baroni and Bridget Kelly conspired with David Wildstein comes from one place...the mouth and the mind of David Wildstein."

That's TWO places. Well, three places when you include the hard drive Wildstein took from your client, counselor!

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Observer.com: “Bill Baroni is innocent of the charges brought against him today by federal prosecutors. The accusations are false. When all the facts come to light, Bill will be fully exonerated,” Baldassare said...“(H)abitual liar David Wildstein lied under oath to a federal judge about Bill Baroni...Today, he said under oath that he is a criminal. The record in this case is equally clear that David Wildstein is a liar.”

Everything the witness says is a lie; therefore everything the defendant says is true? Baldassare must have been playing hookey from law school when the lesson about the prosecution not needing to prove motive was taught. And the closing arguments of a trial isn't the best time for a jury to be learning that not all the facts have come to light...

rocknation · #**288** 10-31-2016, 10:25 PM

The Closing Arguments: Defendant #2

Break out your handkerchiefs and cue the violins...

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CBS New York: In an emotional presentation that lasted more than two hours, Michael Critchley cast client Bridget Kelly as a single mother faced with an administration more concerned with keeping Christie’s nascent presidential hopes alive than with exposing the truth when details of the scandal surfaced three years ago...

Cupping his hands as if holding a megaphone, Critchley nearly yelled, “Chris Christie, where are you?”

Kelly was “the odd person out,” he said. “The inner circle, they know what the code is: ‘Chris Christie knows nothing.’ Bridget Kelly has a different version, and that makes her dangerous. They want that mother of four to take the fall for them. Cowards. Cowards.”

Critchley reminded jurors...that the government didn’t call Christie...to testify because Kelly is telling the truth...

Baroni's attorney used Wildstein as his villian, so I guess it was incumbent upon Kelly's attorney to use Christie. Hands up who didn't see a damsel-in-distress sob story coming. And what stopped the defense from calling Christie to testify -- the fact that his "telling the truth" that Kelly was the link in the chain of command between him and Wildstein would have incriminated EVERYONE?

rocknation · #**289** 11-01-2016, 10:05 PM

The Closing Arguments: Prosecution Rebuttal

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NewsHerald.comIn rebuttal, Assistant U.S. Attorney Vikas Khanna said the case wasn't about who could have been charged or...been called to testify. (The defense) "...wants to distract you from the core of the case. Why? Because the evidence against (the defendants) is devastating."

Khanna...(added) that Baroni changed his story about the traffic jams at least three times, including in front of a legislative committee probing the closures in 2013. He said emails and texts among the three co-conspirators corroborated Wildstein, including a text Kelly sent him during the week of the gridlock that read, "Is it wrong that I am smiling?"

..."Don't let them whitewash it," Khanna said. "It's as outrageous as it sounds."

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Observer.com...(Prosecutors) painted Kelly...as a willing participant in the culture of Christie’s office...“She makes you… think that she is a victim of the governor’s office,” attorney Vikas Khanna said, citing Kelly’s acknowledgement of the fact that she willingly ignored Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop’s 2013 requests for meetings...“She has embraced the punitive nature of the governor’s office.”

According to Khanna, Wildstein has nothing to gain from lying about Kelly and Baroni’s involvement (and that he) has no motivation to “rack up" convictions...(Had) Wildstein had that incentive, he likely would have filled in gaps in his recollection with evidence incriminating higher-level figures mentioned in the trial like Governor Christie...

Khanna reminded jurors of the close personal relationship Baroni and Wildstein shared and said it “makes no sense” that Baroni wouldn’t know about the lane closures when Wildstein entrusted him with details on other sensitive matters in the last as both a friend and a superior at the bi-state agency...“They lied… when they thought no one was watching...”

So now it's all over but the verdict. My prediction? Here's an overview of the charges: Bridget will skate on everything but the wire fraud -- closing a bridge is men's work.

rocknation · #**290** 11-02-2016, 03:47 PM

Christie Blown Away By Hurricane Buzzkill

With a 23-cent per gallon gas tax going into effect this week, Christie was apparently looking to score some public relations points with the fourth anniversary of New Jersey's response to Hurricane Sandy:

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...Christie started...the fourth anniversary of Superstorm Sandy...in Hackensack (because)...“I think sometimes people don’t pay nearly as much attention to what happened up here. We need to continue to remember that those folks, just as much as folks at the Shore, had their lives turned upside down..."

He ran off a laundry list of the damage inflicted by the storm: 325,000 housing units affected, $5.9 billion in overall damage, 19,000 small businesses closed temporarily or permanently...71 percent of electric distribution in the state was cut off by the storm...The PSE&G substation in Hackensack was inundated by storm surge and then rebuilt and elevated to prevent damage from future storms...“We’ve gotten the job done in the rebuilding from Sandy,” he said.

So far, so good. But the next stop on his Sandy anniversary tour WAS the shore:

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Chris Christie was met with protesters at Jimbo's Bar & Grill on the Seaside Heights boardwalk...during what was planned as a commemoration on the fourth anniversary of Superstorm Sandy...“I’ve got to shout at my governor to get something done,” George Kasimos, a member of a group called Stop FEMA, yelled at Christie. “I don’t even call you governor any more.”

...“There will always be critics,” Christie said. “And I am happy to take the criticism. Because when you take the criticism that means you’re actually in a position to do something. The people most of the time who are hurling the criticism are the people who have never accomplished anything in their lives worth noting..."

The people who are hurling criticism at you in this case are also marking their fourth year of living in hotels or in damaged housing.

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Christie said..."These are complicated issues and they don’t lend themselves to explanations when people are yelling and screaming...” He also said...several contractors had been prosecuted on fraud charges (and) the state opened the rebuilding program to contractors who had not been pre-screened after hearing complaints that the process with the approved contractors had been going too slowly...And he put part of the blame for problems on the National Flood Insurance Program.

Giving Sandy money to towns who weren't effected by the storm is what should have been "complicated." How much of the $945 million he's received from Obama is he still sitting on -- and perhaps skimming the accrued interest? Since diverting to the 2016 GOP presidential campaign is no longer viable, maybe he's planning use it to balance New Jersey's budget.

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He stepped away from the lectern for several minutes and spoke one-to-one with some residents, taking down their contact information...

Happy Hurricane Sandy anniversary, Governor Soprano! And speaking of buzzkills:

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New York Post: Donald Trump initially offered the vice-presidential running-mate slot to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie but then withdrew it, sources said...

Trump had not made his choice among Christie, Indiana Gov. Mike Pence and former House Speaker Newt Gingrich. Most of Trump’s advisers — including then-campaign chairman Paul Manafort and Trump’s two eldest sons...and GOP leaders pressured Trump to pick Pence...Christie contacted Trump and made his final, impassioned appeal on July 12.

“Trump had wanted Christie, but Bridgegate would have been the biggest national story,” a...Trump source said. “He’d lose the advantage of not being corrupt.” Trump agreed to name Pence the next day and broke the news to Christie, saying it would “tear my family apart if I gave you VP,” a source said...

Of course, the Trump family reference shouldn't be news to you: one of Trump's in-laws has had it in for Christie for sending his father to jail. That he had any kind of front-line involvement in Trump's campaign is therefore surprising, unless the in-law's ulterior motive was to drop him from the highest pinnacle possible. But it's funny that this should land in the papers at the same time he was trying to offset the gas tax by scoring public relations points with the anniversary of hurricane Sandy...

Bruce Springsteen Mocks New Jersey Governor

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