“I am embarrassed and humiliated by the conduct of some of the people on my team,” said Christie at a press conference on Thursday.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie apologized to the state’s residents Thursday and announced he has fired an aide after emails surfaced indicating staffers planned to cause a traffic jam on the country’s busiest bridge as part of a political payback scheme to punish a local mayor.
“I am embarrassed and humiliated by the conduct of some of the people on my team,” said Christie at a press conference in Trenton, N.J. The governor, clearly trying to get in front of a growing controversy, insisted he knew nothing about the scheme and that he was “blindsided.”
The newly surfaced emails run up against the denials Christie – who has been positioning himself for the 2016 presidential election – has publicly made, insisting the lane closures were not politically motivated and that his staff was not involved. He even told reporters at a press conference last month that the closures are “not that big a deal” and joked about his role, saying sarcastically “I worked the cones, actually. Unbeknownst to everybody I was actually the guy out there, in overalls and a hat.”
The documents, uncovered by The Bergen Record, Bridget Anne Kelly, a deputy chief of staff to Christie, directed Port Authority officials to close the bridge lanes three weeks before the chaotic traffic jams that ensued the week of September 9.
“Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee,” Kelly wrote in an email to David Wildstein, a Christie-appointed executive at the Port Authority, which controls the bridge. Wildstein replied: “Got it.” Christie had previously said the lane closures were part of a traffic study being spearheaded by the Port Authority, not to punish Democratic Mayor Mark Sokolich of Fort Lee for not endorsing him.
Christie said Kelly was fired effective immediately. Wildstein and Christie’s Port Authority appointee Bill Baroni have since resigned. And there have been reports that the traffic jams called by the lane closures resulted in slower times for emergency vehicles and may have hindered the search for a missing child.
Christie said he would visit Fort Lee to apologize to the mayor and residents later in the day.
“Ultimately, I am responsible for what happens under my watch. The good and the bad. And when mistakes are made, I have to own up to them,” he said.
