Story highlights
New Jersey governor slams the committee investigating his role in the "Bridgegate" scandal
Chris Christie says the committee has made leaks that were motivated by partisanship
After 8 months, the committee has found nothing contradicting his statements, Christie says
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie had harsh words Thursday for the committee investigating allegations of abuse of power and the orchestrated lane closures at the George Washington Bridge, known to many as the “Bridgegate” scandal.
“It’s absolutely not true and it is a completely, a completely partisan act to be doing the leaking that they are doing,” he said in response to a reporter’s question about claims that his lawyers would not hand over certain documents, citing executive privilege.
The governor lambasted Democratic New Jersey Assemblyman John Wisniewski, co-chairman of the Select Committee on Investigation, saying he wanted to keep his name in the newspapers and his face on TV.
“We have fully cooperated, absolutely fully cooperated with them, and I am really growing tired of him,” Christie said at a news conference in Trenton, New Jersey.
Accusing the assemblyman of leading a “partisan pursuit,” he questioned the ethics of some committee members after a memo about interviews with police officers who worked at the bridge was leaked to the media last month. “You know it’s not lost on me that I traveled to Mexico and then interview memos are leaked. And that’s not the first of the leaks that have happened in this,” Christie said.
The committee has been digging for eight months, but Christie said it has found nothing to contradict statements he made in January during a marathon question-and-answer session with reporters about the lane closures. “I’m certainly beginning to have concerns about the level of openness that I’ve showed to the committee, because when you show that level of openness, all they do is turn around and leak it to all of you rather than to be dealing with this in a responsible way. They’ve been irresponsible,” he said.
Saying that his administration has cooperated fully with the committee, Christie called on those leading the investigation to, “Wrap up your work, do your job.”