Attorneys for Bridget Anne Kelly begin their defense, questioning former Christie administration spokesman Michael Drewniak about what the governor's inner circle knew as the George Washington Bridge scandal came to light. Watch video
NEWARK - The defense in the Bridgegate trial argued Wednesday that high-level officials inside the Christie administration did not question the 2013 politically motivated lane closures at the George Washington Bridge even as the scandal unfolded and public pressure escalated.
At the same time, one of those charged in the scheme, former Port Authority of New York and New Jersey executive Bill Baroni, told jurors he was left alone to explain what he said he believed to be a legitimate traffic study.
"Everyone was running away. I was the one out there," he said of his November 2013 appearance before a legislative committee that prosecutors have characterized as an attempt to conceal the true nature of the lane shutdowns.
Baroni and Bridget Anne Kelly, a former deputy chief of staff to Gov. Chris Christie, are charged with nine counts of conspiracy and fraud in connection with what the U.S. Attorney's office said was a scheme to create massive traffic tie-ups in Fort Lee to punish Mayor Mark Sokolich after he declined to endorse the governor for re-election.
The plot was orchestrated by David Wildstein, a high-level political appointee to the Port Authority who has already pleaded guilty in the case.
In testimony on Wednesday, Michael Drewniak--the governor's long-time spokesman, said press inquiries to the Port Authority and stories about the lane closures at the George Washington Bridge began trickling in during the midst of the gridlock in Fort Lee the week of Sept. 9, 2013.
However, Drewniak said he did not pay attention while the lanes were shut down.
Drewniak said it took a week for him to finally learn of the closures and another three months to talk to the governor about the issue.
"(The Port Authority) was in my portfolio, but I had many things to be concerned with," Drewniak said.
Later, less than a week after Fort Lee access lanes to the bridge were restored, a reporter with the Wall Street Journal asked him directly whether Christie was made aware of the closures. It was the first Drewniak learned that there were traffic issues at the bridge, he testified. But it wasn't enough for him to talk to the governor about it.
"I tend to try not to bother him," he said. "I didn't see any reason to bother the governor with this."
Drewniak, who has since left the governor's office and now works at NJ Transit in a job that was created for him, testified before the legislature in May 2014 that the traffic problem at the George Washington Bridge "was in the bloodstream" of the administration. But he said Wednesday there was never any knowledge among senior staff that it had been a plot of political intimidation.
In response to the questions by the Wall Street Journal in September, he said he reached out to Wildstein who told him the lane closures were part of a traffic study.
"It didn't mean much more to me at that time," Drewniak told jurors. "He was persistent in his explanation that they were conducting a study. That they had engineers working on it."
He said he had no reason not to believe Wildstein.
"He was somebody I trusted and he was my friend," he said.
The former press spokesman and a one-time reporter for The Star-Ledger, Drewniak said he went to speak twice to Bridget Kelly in September and October about the matter, but said she brushed him off.
"It wasn't a grilling," he said, of his questioning of her. "I believe she said it was a Port Authority matter. Let them handle it."
But Michael Critchley, the attorney for Kelly, challenged Drewniak.
"You were a reporter. Weren't you trained to ask questions?" he asked. "You didn't want to find out from Bridget Kelly if the governor knew."
Drewniak said he learned in October that both Kelly and her former boss, Bill Stepien, who by then had moved on to become the campaign manager for the governor's 2013 re-election bid, had both been aware of the lane shutdowns at the George Washington Bridge.
He said he brought that information on October 18 to Charles McKenna, the governor's chief counsel, who has testified he had no recollection of being told.
Then in early December, Drewniak said he had dinner at a New Brunswick steakhouse with Wildstein, who told him that for the first time that the governor himself had known about the lane closures, and was told about it at a 9/11 memorial while the Fort Lee was gridlocked in traffic.
"Did he tell you it was punitive in nature?" asked Critchley.
"Absolutely not," said Drewniak.
"Did he tell you it was punishment for Mayor Sokolich?"
"He never told me that," he replied.
Wildstein previously testified that he specifically informed Drewniak that the lane closures were an act of political revenge. He described Drewniak as being "quite upset," telling Wildstein he planned to inform Christie's chief of staff, Kevin O'Dowd, what he had learned.
The next day, Dec. 5, 2013, Drewniak said he reported back what he heard to O'Dowd. Christie himself walked in on the meeting, and Drewniak repeated what Wildstein told him.
Critchley asked whether anyone at that point questioned Kelly.
"Not that I can recall," Drewniak said.
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