In an emotional day of testimony, Bridget Anne Kelly refuted the charges against her in the Bridgegate scandal, telling a jury she told Gov. Chris Christie in advance about the plan to close toll lanes at the George Washington Bridge in 2013, and had gotten his approval for what she thought was a legitimate traffic study.This makes three witnesses, the 3rd is Mike DuHaime, who have testified that Christie knew about this in advance, and unlike Wildstein and Kelly, he has not cut a deal and is not on trial.
She denied ever having any knowledge of the bizarre scheme of political retaliation alleged by federal prosecutors.
And she asserted that other higher-ups in the governor's inner circle were all well-aware of what was going on in Fort Lee, long before it played out, and that no one seemed that concerned about it.
"It just wasn't a big deal," she said.
………
Wildstein said he thought after initial traffic jams in Fort Lee, drivers would adapt and that Christie and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo would ultimately be able to take credit for quicker access into New York, Kelly testified.
But first, Wildstein wanted Kelly to talk to the governor, which she did, she testified.
"I said, governor, by the way, I spoke to Wildstein about ... the Port Authority doing a traffic study," Kelly said.
"He said, 'OK, why are we doing this?'" Kelly recalled of Christie's reaction.
After she explained, the governor, at first, didn't "really react."
Then he said he was fine with it. "Typical Wally," she said he remarked, referring to Wildstein's pen name as an anonymous political blogger when he wrote under the name of Wally Edge.
Kelly said the governor told her to run it by O'Dowd.
Within "a few hours," Kelly texted O'Dowd asking for time to talk to him, she said. "I told him that I had spoken to the governor," Kelly recalled.
O'Dowd didn't have any objections, she said.
But the governor did have one question, Kelly said. He wanted to know about the status of his office's relationship with Sokolich.
Methinks (me hopes?) that Jabba the Governor is going to jail.
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