Prosecutors in the George Washington Bridge lane-closing case used their closing arguments Friday to again display for jurors the infamous email at the heart of the case as they sought to prove that two former allies of Republican Gov. Chris Christie purposely created gridlock in a political payback scheme.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Lee Cortes showed a screen to the court displaying Bridget Kelly’s “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee” email from a month before the September 2013 lane closures.
Kelly and her co-defendant, former Port Authority of New York and New Jersey executive Bill Baroni, testified they believed the lane closures were part of a legitimate traffic study conceived by former Port Authority official David Wildstein, who has pleaded guilty.
Wildstein, the recipient of Kelly’s email, testified both Baroni and Kelly were fully aware of the plot to punish Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich, a Democrat whose endorsement had been sought unsuccessfully by Christie’s office.
“The defendants say they were duped by David Wildstein,” Cortes told jurors. “The evidence shows they knew exactly what was going on. They shared an intense commitment to the political success of Gov. Chris Christie, and they felt they could use their political positions to execute a malicious scheme to punish a local mayor. It was a cruel and callous scheme.”
Baroni’s attorney, Michael Baldassare, was to make his closing argument Friday afternoon. Kelly’s attorney’s summation and the government’s rebuttal summation are scheduled for Monday. The trial is in its sixth week.
In their testimony, Kelly and Baroni sought to distance themselves from Wildstein, a former political blogger and high school classmate of Christie’s who was hired at the Port Authority for a job created specifically for him.