Defense attorney Michael Critchley launches a furious attack on Bridgegate prosecution witness David Wildstein.
NEWARK -- Defense attorney Michael Critchley launched a furious attack on Bridgegate prosecution witness David Wildstein Friday, repeatedly calling him a liar, a thief and an abusive individual who would do whatever it took to further his own interests.
Critchley, who represents Bridget Anne Kelly in the George Washington Bridge scandal, painted a picture of someone who routinely engaged in deceit.
He pointedly noted the lies that were told to senior managers at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey in 2013, when he was planning a series of unauthorized lane shutdowns designed to send massive traffic backups into Fort Lee in a scheme of political retribution against the borough's mayor.
Wildstein's Bridgegate timeline
Critchley said Wildstein had lied to Robert Durando, the general manager of the bridge, that the lane closures were part of a traffic study.
"It was not a true statement," he acknowledged.
"It was a lie," said Critchley.
The attorney noted that Wildstein then lied as well to Cedrick Fulton, Durando's boss.
"Because it was in your interest to lie," Critchley insisted.
"I lied to Mr. Fulton because it was in the interest of all of us who were involved," Wildstein said.
The exchange looked to portray to a jury a very different image of the government's key witness in the corruption scandal, who has implicated Kelly, a former deputy chief of staff to Gov. Chris Christie, and Bill Baroni, the former deputy executive director of the Port Authority, in the lane closures. The September 2013 scheme was aimed at punishing Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich for his refusal to endorse the governor for re-election.
Wildstein has already pleaded guilty to orchestrating the plot, and agreed to testify for the prosecution. He has acknowledged in direct testimony that he had long been a political junkie, and was hired at the Port Authority in a $150,000-a-year patronage post with no job description. He had called himself "an enforcer" and an advocate for the governor.
But Critchley focused again and again on the lies Wildstein has told over his career, in an effort to discredit him before the jury.
"The image you're creating here today is 'yes sir,' 'no sir.' Very respectful," Critchley said "But the demeanor you exhibited at the Port Authority was a lot different."
"In some circumstances, I came across as someone who was very tough," he admitted.
He revisited earlier testimony by Wildstein, who acknowledged playing a series of political dirty tricks as a young Republican operative, including his taking of the late Sen. Frank Lautenberg's jacket prior to a debate so that he would "feel uncomfortable," and bragging about tales of voter suppression he claimed responsibility for, but never put into play,
Critchley repeatedly hit Wildstein on whether he knew right from wrong.
"You know what a euphemism is?" he asked. "You explained it by saying you were an exuberant volunteer. That's a euphemism. You were a thief."
"I'm not willing to accept that representation," Wildstein replied.
"The coat did not belong to you."
"I made a bad decision," said Wildstein.
"It was in your interest," the attorney said. "Did you brag, were you proud of yourself?" Critchley asked.
"At the time I was proud of myself," Wildstein said. "I'm embarrassed by it now."
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