David Wildstein gave new insights into who in Christie's inner circle knew about the Bridgegate scandal.
NEWARK -- New details emerged about what and when members of Gov. Chris Christie's inner circle learned regarding the George Washington Bridge lane closure scandal as the government's star witness, David Wildstein, continued Wednesday to pull back the curtain on what he admitted was a political revenge scheme.
As the scandal rapidly spiraled out of control, Wildstein testified under oath he alerting people close to the governor.
He told Michael Drewniak, Christie's longtime press spokesman, three months after the lane closures. According to Wildstein's testimony, Drewniak told him he planned to relay the information to Kevin O'Dowd, Christie's then chief of staff and the man the governor would nominate to serve as the state's attorney general.
Wildstein: Others knew about Bridgegate plot
Wildstein also told jurors he confessed to Charles McKenna, the governor's chief counsel.
Here is Wildstein's timeline of events revealed during his Bridgegate testimony:
August 2013 | Stepien
Shortly after prosecutors say Bridget Anne Kelly sent Wildstein the "time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee" email, Wildstein testified he talked to Bill Stepien about the scheme.
Stepien, at the time, was heading Christie's 2013 gubernatorial campaign. Prior to that, Stepien served as Christie's deputy chief of staff and was considered the governor's political guru, helping Christie win his first statewide campaign in 2009.
"I told Mr. Stepien that I had heard from Miss Kelly to close the Fort Lee lanes and that I was moving forward to do so," Wildstein told jurors. "Mr. Stepien asked about what story we were going to use and I explained to Mr. Stepien that I was going to create the cover of a traffic study."
Sept. 9, 2013
The first day Fort Lee's access lanes to the GWB were reduced from three to one toll lane. The lane closures brought the town of Fort Lee, where many people in surrounding communities drive through to access the bridge, to a standstill.
The gridlock would last for four days.
Sept. 11, 2013 | Christie
According to Wildstein, he and Baroni "boasted" to the governor about the heavy traffic when they saw him in person at a Sept. 11 memorial event in New York.
Wildstein said he and Baroni approached the governor and told him there had been a "tremendous amount of traffic" in Fort Lee that morning. "Major traffic jams. You'll be pleased to know Mayor Sokolich is very frustrated," Baroni told the governor, Wildstein testified.
"Well, I'm sure Mr. Edge would not be involved in anything that's political," Wildstein said Christie told them, referring to Wildstein's pseudonym as a former anonymous political blogger.
Nov. 11, 2013 | DuHaime
Wildstein told jurors he met with Christie's chief political strategist, Mike DuHaime, on Veteran's Day, just two months after the lane closures. At this point, questions continued to come from reporters and intrigue surrounding the lane closures wasn't going away.
"I told Mr. DuHaime that others in the governor's office were involved ... (and that) I felt this story was going to go in a very bad direction," Wildstein testified. "I told him that this was political ... retaliation."
DuHaime expressed dissatisfaction with the plot, calling it a "very bad idea," and said he would have told Wildstein not to go through with it, the witness said.
When Wildstein told him he and Baroni had also informed Christie at the Sept. 11 memorial event, DuHaime responded the governor must have thought they were joking.
Nov. 25, 2013 | Baroni Testimony
Baroni testified before an Assembly committee about the lane closures. He told lawmakers the closures were part of a traffic study.
Wildstein said on Wednesday Baroni knew at the time that the traffic study defense was a lie.
Early October 2013 | Christie says he first learned
Gov. Chris Christie would later say this was the time when problems at the GWB first came into his "consciousness," after The Wall Street Journal ran a "story on Oct. 1 or 2, somewhere in that neighborhood, when Executive Director (Patrick) Foye leaked his memo to the newspapers," Christie said at a March 2014 news conference.
The memo Christie referred to was Foye's September order to reopen the bridge. The memo also suggested rules weren't followed and that Foye planned to investigate the closures.
Dec. 4, 2013 | Drewniak & O'Dowd
Wildstein testified he told Christie's longtime spokesman, Michael Drewniak, that the lane closures were an act of political revenge when the two met for dinner in New Brunswick.
He described Drewniak as being "quite upset," telling Wildstein he planned to tell Christie's then-chief of staff, Kevin O'Dowd, what he had learned.
Wildstein, admitting the "stories were out of control," offered to resign.
Drewniak has denied being told the closures were an act of political revenge.
Dec. 6, 2013 | McKenna
Wildstein said he then spoke with Charles McKenna, Christie's then chief counsel.
"Mr. McKenna asked me if I would be amenable to resigning and I told him that I was," he testified.
"Did you tell Mr. McKenna that the lane reduction had been your idea?" an attorney asked.
"Yes, I did," Wildstein said, who did not testify that McKenna was told why the lane closures were put into play, or that it was politically motivated.
Dec. 19, 2013 | Christie holds a press conference
Christie held a statehouse news conference to announce staff changes in his administration, including the departure of McKenna.
Christie was asked to comment on Baroni and Wildstein hiring criminal defense attorneys to represent them after they were served with subpoenas from the a legislative committee.
The governor criticized reporters over the "sensationalized characterization."
He added, to The Wall Street Journal reporter who asked the question, "I think, quite frankly, at the end of this, you and your paper will owe an apology to Sen. Baroni and Mr. Wildstein."
Jan. 9, 2014 | Christie's marathon press conference
Christie held his marathon press conference after the "time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee email" became public the prior day.
The governor said that was the first he learned about the political payback scheme.
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. Facebook: @TedSherman.reporter.