Bridget Kelly, Christie’s former deputy chief of staff, has claimed the email from mid-August 2013 was a joke, but Wildstein testified on Monday that he didn’t take it as one. Photograph: Julio Cortez/APThe government contends that a month later, Wildstein, Kelly and the Port Authority executive, Bill Baroni, put the plan into action and caused four days of traffic jams. Both defendants say Wildstein conceived and carried out the scheme in September 2013. Wildstein said Christie and Stepien were among those who discussed the strategy at a meeting about Christie’s re-election. Prosecutors say Fort Lee’s mayor, Mark Sokolich, one of the Democratic mayors who declined to endorse Christie, was the target of the traffic jam scheme in September 2013.

Source: The Guardian September 26, 2016 17:05 UTC