Ex-Christie Ally: Governor Broke The Law, Revealed Grand Jury Information

The man considered the “mastermind” of the Bridgegate lane-closings scandal said Gov. Chris Christie broke the law by revealing grand jury information in a case he had overseen, according to documents released in the media.

David Wildstein, a former Port Authority official, issued a statement this past week in a civil case separate from the Bridgegate scandal that claims Christie committed an act that’s considered a violation of federal law.

The statement was released by The New York Times and published on its site. The report said a spokesman for Mr. Christie, Kevin Roberts, responded to the Times article by saying:

“This is just the latest legal jockeying in yet another legal proceeding involving Mr. Wildstein, but one thing should be made clear: Anyone suggesting the governor disclosed grand jury information is either lying or mistaken.”

The statement is Wildstein’s response to questions in a lawsuit filed by Gerard Speziale, the former sheriff in Passaic County who was hired by the Port Authority in August 2010 for a $199,000-a-year job, according to the nj.com.

Wildstein’s statement said he once met with Christie and others, and that the governor directed Port Authority officials to fire Arthur Cifelli, the then-deputy superintendent of the Port Authority Police Department and deputy director of security, and to replace him with Speziale, according to the court documents.

According to the statement:

“Christie told Wildstein and the others that he wanted to get Speziale to drop his re-election bid to help Republicans win the post, and to take Speziale’s campaign war chest out of the race.”

The governor “made it clear he would not have Cifelli working for his administration” and that Cifelli “had perjured himself during his testimony in the Grandy Jury proceedings related to [former state Senate President and New Brunswick Mayor] John Lynch and that his office had considered prosecuting Cifelli for perjury,” according to the court documents.

In the lawsuit, filed against the authority, Wildstein and others, Speziale says he was brought into the job to root out corruption but was “harassed” when he tried to reveal it. He ended up leaving for a job in Alabama and later returned to Passaic County as the police director in Paterson, according to the Times report.

Wildstein, who pleaded guilty last month to two counts of conspiracy, has admitted the scheme to close lanes at the George Washington Bridge, and create endless traffic jams over four successive mornings in the fall of 2013, was retribution to the Fort Lee mayor for not endorsing the governor’s re-election campaign, according the U.S. Attorneys Office.

Former Christie aide Bridget Ann Kelly and Bill Baroni, another Christie appointee at the Port Authority, were also indicted in connection with the “Bridgegate” scandal, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.

>>Related: Five Things You Need to Know About ‘Bridgegate’ Scandal

As a result of those admissions, Baroni and Kelly were each charged with nine counts in a scheme to misuse Port Authority resources to facilitate and conceal the cause of traffic problems in Fort Lee in September of 2013.

Wildstein lawyer Alan Zegas, who has said “evidence exists” that Christie knew of the traffic jams at the time, told reporters after the guilty plea in federal court in Newark that Wildstein “deeply regrets what occurred. He can’t undo what’s been done.”

Zegas also said he stands behind his earlier statement suggesting that Christie may have known about the jam while it was happening.