By the third day of the Bridgegate trial, public officials admitted to lies. Here are 2 of them.
NEWARK -- It didn't take long for full, or partial, admissions of lying to come out.
On the third day of the criminal trial of two former Gov. Chris Christie allies charged with shutting down access lanes to the George Washington Bridge, two public officials admitted, to varying degrees, of having lied to the public.
Foye: Lane closures were 'abusive decision'
Defense attorney Michael Critchley, who's representing former Christie deputy chief of staff Bridget Anne Kelly, pointed them out Wednesday while cross examining two of the prosecution's witnesses: Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich and Patrick Foye, the executive director of the Port Authority.
1. Sokolich pens an op-ed
In November 2013, two months after the traffic jams that the mayor said ground his town to a complete halt, Sokolich had an op-ed published in The Star-Ledger, challenging a news story the paper had published.
The mayor had been consistently asked for weeks by reporters about what he thought the motive was for the lane closures. In the op-ed, he wrote that he did not believe the access lanes to the bridge were closed as result of punishment for refusing to endorse Christie's re-election bid.
"This is simply not true, Sokolich wrote. "I have consistently and without deviation stated on the record that in no way do I believe that these lane closures are a result of my refusal to support the governor," Sokolich wrote.
However, the mayor testified in court this week that during the time of the lane closures he believed the gridlock to be "punitive."
Critchley latched on.
"A little inconsistent?" he asked Sokolich.
"It is," the mayor responded.
"One's the truth and one's false?" Critchley pressed. "One's the truth, one's a lie?"
Sokolich: "That's correct."
The mayor said he lied in the op-ed. Later, when given a chance to tell the court why he penned the false letter, Sokolich told jurors he wrote the letter because he was scared.
"I am not proud," Sokolich admitted, claiming he was "petrified" that if he went public, he would be subject to further retribution by the governor's office or the state agencies that had oversight over a major new redevelopment project in Fort Lee.
2. Foye's press statement approval
Foye, an appointee of New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, had ordered the lanes reopened on the morning of Sept. 15, 2013, the fifth day of the lane closures. Foye testified he gave the order because he was mystified by the closures and suspected foul play at the time.
However, a statement was released to the press the same day that claimed "the Port Authority has conducted a week of study" at the bridge and the agency would "review those results and determine the best traffic patterns at the GWB."
Foye had approved the statement, which was sent to him by Bill Baroni.
"And you knew that was false, according to you?" Critchley asked, referring to the traffic study.
Foye responded: "I didn't believe it was true, yes."
Honorable mention: The meeting that never happened
Maybe it wasn't a fib. Maybe something came up.
But Sokolich gave some insight into his private discussion with Christie when the governor traveled to Fort Lee in January 2014, after the infamous "time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee" email was released, to apologize to him.
The details came out during his cross-examination by Baroni's lawyer, Michael Baldassare.
"You had a conversation with the governor?" Baldassare asked.
Sokolich: "I did."
"And at the end of that conversation, he said: 'Let's get together in a couple of weeks?'" Baldassare continued, to which Sokolich replied: "Yes."
"That ever happen?" Baldassare asked.
"No," the mayor responded.
"You ever hear from him?" Baldassare pressed.
Sokolich: "No."
Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MatthewArco or on Facebook. Follow NJ.com Politics on Facebook.
Ted Sherman may be reached at tsherman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TedShermanSL.