A onetime top ally of the New Jersey governor, Chris Christie, said the governor and his New York counterpart, Andrew Cuomo, discussed releasing a false report to tamp down questions over the George Washington Bridge lane-closure scandal, the prosecution’s key witness testified on Tuesday. Instead, Bill Baroni testified before lawmakers in November 2013, two months after the lane closures, that they were part of a traffic study. Baroni, who served as Christie’s top appointed staff aide at the Port Authority, and Bridget Kelly, Christie’s former deputy chief of staff, are on trial facing wire fraud and civil rights charges. Samson pleaded guilty in another case to using his role as Port Authority chairman to influence United Airlines to reinstate a money-losing route closer to his vacation home and is awaiting sentencing. Christie has not been charged and says he did not authorize the closures or play a role in covering them up.

Source: The Guardian October 04, 2016 19:30 UTC