A new report by a New York NBC affiliate claims federal investigators have found no evidence that Gov. Chris Christie ordered or knew about the closure of lanes on the George Washington Bridge last year.
The NBC report notes that the federal investigation is not closed, meaning something could still change. However, after nine months of investigation no evidence connecting Christie to the incident. Former federal prosecutor Robert Ray, who was not part of the current investigation, tells NBC, “if you don’t have it within nine months or so you’re not
likely to ever get it.”
Bridgegate began with the closure of lanes on the George Washington Bridge last September. Emails written by Christie’s subordinates surfaced after the fact indicating the closure was politically motivated. Since then there have been a series of parallel investigations trying to determine whether or not the Governor was in any way responsible for the incident.
The first investigation, which was completed in March, concluded that Gov. Christie “did not know of the lane realignment beforehand and had no involvement in the decision to realign the lanes.” Democrats dismissed the results of the probe because it was put together by a law firm with which his administration had done prior business.
The federal investigation was considered the most serious for determining Christie’s future. There were reports in June suggesting an indictment was imminent. At the time, this reporter spoke to a source with knowledge of the probe who indicated those reports were not correct, i.e. that in fact no determination had been made either way. The NBC report today seems to bear that out.
If the NBC report holds up, that would leave one final investigation run by New Jersey Democrats. Just this morning, Gov. Christie gave a press conference where he was asked about Bridgegate. He replied that he was, “really growing tired” of the endless investigation by New Jersey Democrats and suggested they should wrap it up. “They care more about being on television than they care about actually getting to the truth and … I’m tired of it,” Christie said. He specifically cited MSNBC which has focused relentlessly on the scandal since it broke.