Two former Christie allies are convicted in Bridgegate lane closures
George Washington Bridge.
Two former officials tied to New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie were found guilty on Friday in a scheme to close lanes on the George Washington Bridge to punish a mayor who didn’t endorse the governor for re-election.
Bill Baroni and Bridget Anne Kelly were found guilty of all counts, report the New York Times, NJ.com and CNN. Kelly sobbed as the verdict was read, while Baroni “stared at the jury stoically,” according to NJ.com.
Baroni was the former deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and Kelly was deputy chief of staff to Christie. Among the evidence was Kelly’s email that read “time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee.”
The government’s star witness was former Port Authority executive David Wildstein, who said that he came up with the lane-closing idea, and that Kelly and Baroni helped him carry it out. Kelly and Baroni maintained Wildstein had duped them into believing the lane closures were part of a traffic study.
Prosecutors had argued that Baroni and Kelly misused the property of the Port Authority in violation of a fraud statute that makes it a crime to misapply property of federal aid recipients, according to the NJ.com story.
Sentencing is scheduled for Feb. 21.
