The issuance of team Christie’s internal review report last Thursday added no new information with regard to the GW Bridge access lane closings that it didn’t merit a new diary. (News reports were added as comments to the last diary.) It’s not as if anyone expected anything other than Christie bridge scandal: Internal report clears governor, . For a million dollars or so (State of NJ dollars), Randy Mastro of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, concluded that the perpetrators of the GW Bridge plot were Bridget Kelly and David Wildstein, Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer is a liar, and the Port Authority of NY & NJ needs reorganization. Also that Bridget Kelly and Stepien had an affair that he ended and she become emotionally unbalanced.
Dawn Zimmer publicly pushed back against Mastro’s accusations. Stepien and Kelly’s attorneys have criticized the disclosure of their affair. So far, no response from Wildstein so far.
The initial media response to Mastro’s report was at best lukewarm, but with a few days to digest it, the response has turned hostile. Losing Christie fanboy Joe Scarborough. Not sure how trashing Kelly is more shameful than trashing NJ teachers or that it may not be as effective for Christie’s political future.
In making the case that Christie is clean, Mastro seems to have overlooked the fact that the NJ legislature has also been investigating this. Christie’s bridge scandal lawyers to be subpoenaed.
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Democratic Assemblyman John Wisniewski (wihz-NEHS’-kee) says lawyers retained by the Republican governor’s administration to conduct an internal investigation appeared to have access to information that the committee hasn’t seen.Wisniewski says the additional subpoenas will be discussed as soon as the committee can be convened.
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This could be a really big “oops” on Mastro’s part.
Mastro gilded his report by also calling for restructuring of the Port Authority of NY & NJ. One teensy, weensy problem with this: ‘Exhaustive’ Christie Report Omitted Port Authority
The team hired by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie to investigate the politically-motivated lane closures at the George Washington Bridge did not interview any employees of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the bi-state agency that executed the lane closure. Other than key Bridgegate figures David Wildstein and Bill Baroni, none of them were even asked.
That includes Port Authority Executive Director Pat Foye, whose emails figure significantly in the unraveling of the Bridgegate scandal.
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Maybe Mastro should be called The Amazing Randy as he divined what the PA police would have told him if they’d been interviewed about the lane closings and the changes the PA needs.
Expect a bit of back pedaling from Mastro as State and Fed investigators begin asking questions of him.
Update #1
This is going to be fun: Christie lawyer declines to show interview notes in internal report on ‘Bridgegate’
Gibson Dunn & Crutcher LLP attorney Randy Mastro yesterday declined a request by lawmakers to turn over notes taken during the interviews of over 70 witnesses that supported an internal report conclusion that New Jersey Governor Chris Christie has no knowledge about the lane closures near the George Washington Bridge…
Guess it’s time for NJ State auditors to take a look at Mastro’s engagement letter as there seems to be some confusion as to who hired him and for what.
Was Mastro hired by the State of NJ to perform an investigation or by Governor Christie as his consigliere on the State of NJ’s dime?
Update #2 – Exclusive: Christie Prosecutor Gets Its Star Witness to Start Talking.
Esquire has learned from sources close to the investigation that David Wildstein, the former Port Authority operative who helped plan and execute the Great Fort Lee Clusterfk, is now cooperating with Paul Fishman, the federal prosecutor investigating the soon-to-be-ex-governor and his minions for criminal conduct. Fishman has also increased the number of investigators at work on the case, and has begun presenting evidence and witnesses to a grand jury in Newark.
Connecting a couple of dots, it would be logical that Fishman would want to hear from Drewniak to confirm the veracity of some statements from Wildstein. How important those particular statements may be to unraveling the GW Bridge conspiracy could range from inconsequential to explosive. Also note from mainjustice dot com that Charlie McKenna, former chief counsel to Christie, met secretly with Fishman in mid-January and speculation that Wildstein has struck an immunity deal and several team Christie lawyers engaged in a cover-up conspiracy.
Update #3: Bridge scandal panel weighing immunity after judge’s subpoena ruling
A leader of the legislative committee investigating the George Washington Bridge lane closings said today that it will consider granting immunity to witnesses in coordination with the U.S. Attorney’s Office of New Jersey to move the inquiry forward.
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The way to move the legislative inquiry forward, Wisniewski said, would be to work in close consultation with federal prosecutors to ensure the committee does not give anyone protections before U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman’s inquiry into them is complete.
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Some concern that supplying documents or testimony to the NJ legislative committee could allow those implicated to avoid prosecution based on the Iran-Contra precedent that set Ollie North free.
Update #4 – 400 pages of Mastro Interview Notes released. The initial reported snippets add little to what was previously known. Better stuff is now being culled Christie’s office gave less attention to mayors who didn’t support governor, official said. Keep in the mind that this is within the constraints of Mastro’s “investigation.”
The law firm did not record the interviews or keep transcripts. Instead, they were summarized by the attorneys and reflect their “mental thoughts and impressions” to ensure they were protected under attorney-client privilege, the firm said.
The review did not include interviews with Baroni; Samson; Stepien; Bridget Anne Kelly, Christie’s former deputy chief of staff; and David Wildstein, a former top official with the Port Authority.
State Senator Loretta Weinberg calls out Mastro’s notes for what they are:
…the interviews were “designed to shore up the whitewash,” but fell short.
“This report should be an embarrassment to the authors and to the governor and the so-called ‘documents’ don’t change that one iota.” Weinberg said.
For example, the apparent bombshell from the interview of Christina Renna, Christie liaison with local officials, that the fired Bill Stepian was the real power between the Christie administration and local officials. The problem with whitewashes is that it’s difficult to get them to 100%. Richard Ribisz, Sandy Relief Regional Director for Governor, for whatever reason reported:
…a phone call from Renna shortly after it became clear that Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer would not endorse Christie for re-election.
“Renna told him not to bend over backwards for Mayor Zimmer, which Rebisz explained meant that he should not go out of his way to help her, and that Mayor Zimmer wasn’t going to endorse the Governor,” according to notes from the interview.
Once again urge caution in interpreting this latest batch of information. Running with “Wildstein claims approval from highest office for toll lane closing” can too easily be discounted as nothing beyond the e-mails released months ago unless there’s evidence that Bridget Kelly’s “time for traffic” message can be shown not to have originated with her. the reason for closing those bridge access lanes still remains hidden.
