BREAKING: United Airlines Chief Quits As Federal Probe Involving Christie Ally Continues

United Airlines announced Tuesday that Jeff Smisek will resign as CEO as a federal probe that reportedly involves possible favors provided to a former Port Authority executive and chief ally of Gov. Chris Christie continues.

Smisek was replaced by Oscar Munoz, and the company also appointed current board member Henry L. Meyer, the company’s lead independent director, to serve as non-executive chairman of the Board, according to a press release published by skift.com.

Former Port Authority Chairman David Samson has been identified as a Christie ally who could face legal trouble, having recently decided to step down from his longtime post as co-founder of the politically connected law firm Wolff & Samson, according to politickernj.com. Samson’s firm also said it was changing its name.

The airline is under investigation by the United States attorney in New Jersey over whether it had sought to influence senior officials at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, according to The New York Times.

In April, investigators were reportedly reviewing the new details emerging in a corruption probe involving the Christie administration and Samson, who was also one of the key players in the “Bridgegate” scandal that once was focused solely on the political-payback traffic jams that were ordered near the George Washington Bridge in 2013.

Bloomberg outlined Samson’s alleged involvement in a possible pay-to-play scheme that helped United Airlines win approval for projects that will boost the airline’s operations at Newark Liberty International Airport.

The circumstances surrounding the approvals allegedly began with a dinner between Samson and United’s chief executive officer, according to the report:

• Smisek wanted funding for several projects at Newark airport when the executive dined with Samson in September 2011.
• During the dinner, Samson noted he had grown weary of a trip to his weekend home in Aiken, S.C. because the best flight out of Newark was to Charlotte, N.C. He noted that Continental had run direct service from Newark to Columbia, S.C., 100 miles closer, until 2009.

“In a tone described by one observer as ’playful, but not joking,’ Samson asked: Could United revive that route? An awkward silence fell over the table.”

• Showing he wasn’t joking, Samson “ratcheted up the pressure” after the dinner, possibly suggesting through a United lobbyist that he was maneuvering to delay the airline’s project requests.
• The Port Authority ultimately approved a new United hangar, and Samson got his “chairman’s flight.” Four days after Samson left the Port Authority in March 2014, the flight was canceled.