Port Authority Official: Christie Knew About Lane Closings

Is this the beginning of the end for Chris Christie? The New York Times reports: “The former Port Authority official who personally oversaw the lane closings on the George Washington Bridge in the scandal now swirling around Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey said on Friday that the governor knew about the lane closings when they were happening.”

In a letter released by his lawyer, the official, David Wildstein, a high school friend of Mr. Christie’s who was appointed with the governor’s blessing at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which controls the bridge, described the order to close the lanes as “the Christie administration’s order” and said “evidence exists as well tying Mr. Christie to having knowledge of the lane closures, during the period when the lanes were closed, contrary to what the governor stated publicly in a two-hour press conference” three weeks ago.

“Mr. Wildstein contests the accuracy of various statements that the governor made about him and he can prove the inaccuracy of some,” the letter added.

Christie’s continued credibility rests almost entirely on the idea that he did not personally know his aides were closing down lanes to the George Washington Bridge as part of political payback to the mayor of Fort Lee, N.J. So the spotlight shifts to Wildstein: What proof can can he provide of Christie’s “inaccuracy?” Is it enough to rise above he-said-she-said bickering? The fate of Christie’s political career may rest on the answer.