Fort Lee lane closure controversy

The Fort Lee lane closure controversy, also known as Bridgegate, concerns actions taken by New Jersey GovernorChris Christie's staff and his Port Authority appointees to create a traffic jam in Fort Lee, New Jersey as political retribution. Dedicated toll lanes for one of the Fort Lee entrances to the upper level on the George Washington Bridge were reduced from three to one from September 9, 2013, to September 13, 2013.
One of the reasons suggested for these actions was to punish Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich, a Democrat, for not supporting Republican Chris Christie in the 2013 New Jersey gubernatorial election.
Another theory was that Christie or his aides sought to punish New Jersey Senate majority leader, Loretta Weinberg, who represented the New Jersey district containing Fort Lee, as retribution for the Democrats' blocking of Christie's reappointment of a New Jersey Supreme Courtjustice. Christie withdrew his appointee consideration and delivered a speech referring to New Jersey Senate Democrats as "animals" just one day before emails were sent by Christie's aides to the Port Authority requesting the lane closures.
The story garnered national attention since Governor Christie was considered at the time one of the top potential Republican nominees for the 2016 U.S. presidential race.
Background
The George Washington Bridge is the busiest motor-vehicle bridge in the world. It carries Interstate 95 and U.S. Route 1/9 over the Hudson River between northern Manhattan, in New York City, and Fort Lee in Bergen County, New Jersey. There is a toll to go from New Jersey to New York, and the north end of the heavily traveled New Jersey Turnpike is the bridge.
The bridge is owned by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey (usually just called the "Port Authority"), which is run by a twelve-member Board of Commissioners: each state's governor, with the approval of that state's senate, appoints six members over time, with the members' terms staggered. A state governor may veto the acts of that state's board members. Several other positions at the Port Authority are appointed by governors; by tradition, the top two executives are appointed by the governors.
Chris Christie was first elected governor of New Jersey in November 2009. During his first term, he appointed Bill Baroni as deputy executive director of the Port Authority. David Wildstein, who knew Christie during high school and was a local politician and political blogger under the pen name of Wally Edge, in May 2010 as New Jersey's second highest executive at the Port Authority, and often substituted for Baroni at major meetings. Wildstein responded to Kelly's e-mail: "Got it." Subsequent e-mail exchanges also implicated Port Authority Chairman David Samson, another Christie appointee, by name in the toll lane closures.
Beginning on September 9, 2013, the dedicated toll lanes for one of the Fort Lee, New Jersey entrances to the upper level of the George Washington Bridge were reduced from three to one until early morning on September 13, on orders from David Wildstein without notification to Fort Lee government and police officials. It caused additional hours each day of even more significant traffic congestion than normal and major delays for school transportation and police and emergency response within Fort Lee during and after the peak hours of travel.
On September 13, 2013, Patrick Foye, the executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey ordered that the lanes be restored. He said the closure violated agency policy and jeopardized public safety. Foye was an appointee of Andrew Cuomo , the Governor of New York.
Based on sworn testimony by Port Authority officials at an Assembly Transportation Committee hearing on December 9, 2013, Christie announced on December 13 he had accepted the immediate resignations of Baroni and Wildstein. Asked whether the lane closures had been ordered as political retribution, Christie answered "absolutely, unequivocally not". Christie added: "I've made it very clear to everybody on my senior staff that if anyone had any knowledge about this, they needed to come forward to me and tell me about it. And they’ve all assured me that they don't."
Documents were turned over under a subpoena to investigators of the Assembly Transportation Committee and those redacted documents were turned over to The New York Times and other news media. Christie released a statement later that day denying knowledge of the scandal, rebuking Bridget Anne Kelly for her role in the lane closure event, and vowing that "people will be held responsible for their actions". These lane closures caused slower response time for emergency vehicles and may have contributed to the death of at least one woman.
On January 9, 2014, Christie apologized at a press conference for the lane closure and said that he was "embarrassed and humiliated" by the behavior of his staff. The governor indicate he fired Bridget Anne Kelly, whom he called “stupid” and “deceitful” for lying to him. Christie indicated he admonished his two-time campaign manager Bill Stepien by asking him to withdraw his name from the Republican State Party Chairman race, and to cease his consulting role for the Republican Governors Association. Later that day, Wildstein refused to testify before the Assembly Transportation Committee, invoking the constitutional protection from self incrimination.
When asked in the press conference on what he would do if subpoenaed to testify on the matter, Christie said "I will not speculate on that", although earlier in the conference he had promised complete cooperation.
Repercussions
, there is a wide range of opinion about the impact of this scandal on a potential Christie presidential bid. Similarly, there is much debate about possible criminal prosecutions of Bridget Anne Kelly and David Wildstein, especially if the slower responses by emergency vehicles caused any deaths or further complications.

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