Wildstein testifies Christie’s spokesman knew of GWB plot

NEWARK - Nine days before Governor Christie publicly rejected talk that a partisan plot was behind the George Washington Bridge traffic jams, his chief spokesman was told the lane shutdowns were intended as political retaliation against Fort Lee’s mayor, the prosecution’s star witness testified on Wednesday.

The claim by David Wildstein adds another Christie confidante to the list of those said to have known about the real reason for the lane closings, which were said to have been part of a traffic study.

Prosecutors from the U.S. Attorney’s Office have spent all week questioning Wildstein, closing in on Christie’s closest aides and advisers who were allegedly told of the traffic jam plan and its political motivations — briefings that came as the lanes were closed and in the weeks afterward as public pressure built for answers.

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Christie and some of the people closest to him, including his former deputy chief of staff and a senior adviser, knew of the traffic plot and its purpose, Wildstein has testified.

On Wednesday, Wildstein said that on Dec. 4, 2013, he met with Michael Drewniak, the spokesman who followed Christie — himself a former U.S. Attorney — from the U.S. Attorney’s Office to the Governor’s Office. Wildstein said he told Drewniak that he was more than just the mastermind of the plan to take away two lanes leading to the bridge over four mornings during the first week of the school year.

Wildstein said he told Drewniak “specifically that this was political retaliation” against Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich “for not endorsing Governor Christie’s campaign.”

On Dec. 13, 2013, Christie announced that his top appointee at the Port Authority, Bill Baroni, was resigning and that the departure had nothing to do with the growing controversy over the lane closings. Christie said reports that the lanes were closed to punish the borough’s Democratic mayor were “a lot of hullaballo.”

Christie has repeatedly insisted that he did not know beforehand about the plan to close the lanes and that he was not involved.

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Baroni, a former Port Authority deputy executive director, and Bridget Anne Kelly, Christie’s former deputy chief of staff, are on trial in federal court after pleading not guilty to charges they worked with Wildstein to close the lanes as political retribution.

In May 2014, Drewniak testified to the legislative committee investigating the lane closings that Wildstein told him at the meeting that he was responsible for the lane closures but that they were for a traffic study. He said Wildstein presented to him “actual reports” that made him think, “Geez, that really does look like something valid.” A separate taxpayer-funded investigation commissioned by Christie said that Wildstein “never admitted or even suggested to Drewniak that he or anyone else had any ulterior motive.”

Drewniak’s attorney, Anthony Iacullo of Nutley, declined to comment on Wildstein’s courtroom allegation.

“Michael was questioned extensively by the legislative committee investigating this matter,” Iacullo said. “He answered all their questions truthfully and completely, and he stands by the responses he gave.”

On Dec. 6, 2013, Wildstein submitted his resignation from the Port Authority at the request of Christie’s office. Yet he still had assurances from Christie’s top political advisers, Bill Stepien and Mike DuHaime, that he was “still on the governor’s team,” Wildstein said.

“I was told at some point that Governor Christie was happy that I had stepped up and taken responsibility,” Wildstein said. “I was told that by Mr. Stepien, I was told that by Mr. DuHaime.”

Wildstein’s expectation was that he “would relax for a little while then begin playing some sort of role in advancing Governor Christie’s political future,” he said.

Wildstein has pleaded guilty in the case and is cooperating with the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

Under cross-examination, Baroni’s attorney, Michael Baldassare, portrayed Wildstein as an “enforcer” at the agency but a disreputable source. And Baldassare sought to tie Wildstein closer to Christie while diminishing the friendship he had with Baroni.

Baldassare displayed a photograph of Wildstein and his wife posing in front of a Christmas tree with Christie and his wife in 2012. He put it on display for the jury as he questioned Wildstein about his role at the Port Authority, where he was hired in 2010 as director of interstate capital projects — a title whose meaning Wildstein said he didn’t know. But two weeks after getting the $150,000-a-year job, Wildstein was in Christie’s office in Trenton with a list of Port Authority employees hired under Democratic governors.

Wildstein said he and Baroni met to decide the fate of those employees with Christie and members of his inner circle — including Rich Bagger, who along with Christie is helping lead Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump’s transition team, and Michele Brown, a neighbor of Christie’s who now leads the state Economic Development Authority.

Answering questions from Baldassare, Wildstein said he had prepared the list at the request of Stepien, then the governor’s deputy chief of staff, so that Christie could decide who would keep their Port Authority jobs and who would be fired.

Christie, who was six months into his first term, did not seek Wildstein’s advice on who should be fired, Wildstein testified.

“Was it largely a cleansing out of Democrats … creating space for an influx of Republicans?” Baldassare asked.

“Yes,” Wildstein agreed.

Baldassare suggested the reason Wildstein was there was “because Bill Baroni wasn’t effective at firing people.”

“No sir,” Wildstein said. “The governor never said that.”

“Aren’t you the enforcer brought in to fire Democrats because Bill was no good at that?” Baldassare said.

“No sir, that was not the reason,” Wildstein said, adding Baroni had asked him to attend the meeting.

Wildstein said he was hired at the Port Authority after Baroni went to the governor and got his approval.

Although Wildstein had testified that Baroni was one of his “closest” friends, Baldassare suggested otherwise. He displayed text messages between Wildstein and an unidentified woman known by the nickname “the Chechen.” In those messages, from two days before the lane closings began, Wildstein complains of Baroni’s tardiness and work ethic and makes a disparaging remark about his sexuality.

“His priorities continue to amaze me,” Wildstein wrote in one message. In another, he wrote that one of Baroni’s assistants “says gay men don’t begin to act like they’re in their 20s until they come out. So 10 years ago Baroni was 40, now he’s 25 … it’s time to graduate to an adult lifestyle with adult responsibilities.”

Baldassare asked Wildstein, “These texts came at a time where you claim that you were so close with him that you were working on the lane realignment together, correct?”

Wildstein responded, “Yes,” adding that he “spoke to Mr. Baroni almost every day.”

Cross-examination of Wildstein was scheduled to resume today.

Dustin Racioppi: racioppi@northjersey.com