Christie’s ‘enforcer’ Wildstein set to tell all at bridge trial

By David Voreacos

Bloomberg

David Wildstein is set to break his three-year silence about why he ordered the closing of access lanes to the George Washington Bridge, triggering a scandal that enveloped New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

The disgraced political operative may testify as early as Friday at the trial of two former Christie allies accused of conspiring with him to create traffic gridlock near the bridge. Prosecutors say the bizarre plot was intended to punish the Democratic mayor of Fort Lee, New Jersey, for not endorsing the Republican governor in 2013.

While Wildstein pleaded guilty last year, he’s never publicly told the inside account of why he ordered lane closures that snarled cars and emergency vehicles on the first week of school. He’ll testify against Bill Baroni, the former deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, and Bridget Kelly, once Christie’s deputy chief of staff.

“David Wildstein is a vicious guy,” Baroni’s attorney Michael Baldassare told jurors when the federal trial started Sept. 19 in Newark, New Jersey. “He’s a bully. He’s a horrible person. He is the most complicated person I’ve ever met. He is a vindictive individual who would destroy your life.”

Prosecutors say Wildstein and Baroni bragged to Christie about the lane closings as they occurred, and about how the mayor was being punished. Christie denies that and wasn’t charged. But the scandal has tarred him. Once a contender for the Republican nomination for the White House, his popularity has plummeted. He now advises nominee Donald Trump.

New Jersey’s public and political class has long waited to hear who else was in on the plot, which was the subject of legislative hearings and endless rumors and innuendo.

Defense lawyers say Wildstein was Christie’s feared enforcer at the Port Authority, where Baroni was his boss. Those lawyers say he falsely implicated Baroni and Kelly to please prosecutors and help avoid a possible 15-year prison term. Kelly and Baroni face as many as 20 years.

Prosecutors don’t deny that Wildstein, 54, is a lying felon.

As a lifelong political operative, Wildstein “engaged in a lot of dirty tricks, a lot of bad things,” Assistant U.S. Attorney Vikas Khanna told jurors in his opening statement. “He’s shaded the truth. He has lied. But he will also tell you what happened here in Fort Lee. This was different than just a trick.”

The public knew little about Wildstein until four months after the lane closings. That’s when an email exchange between Kelly and Wildstein surfaced.

“Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee,” Kelly wrote to Wildstein, a month before the gridlock began. “Got it,” Wildstein replied. The scandal, which had simmered, soon boiled.

A day after the emails came to light, Wildstein asserted his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination. He quickly began the first of almost two dozen debriefings with prosecutors, jurors have been told.

At the Port Authority, where his title was director of interstate capital projects, Wildstein was reviled by the agency’s executive director, Patrick Foye. Foye testified Thursday that Wildstein was abusive to employees and tried to wiretap workers.

But Foye says his hands were tied because Wildstein was protected by Christie at the bi-state agency which was riven by political rivalries between New York and New Jersey. Foye was appointed by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo, a Democrat, and Baroni was Christie’s top appointee.

Wildstein, a former small-town mayor, falsely claimed on his Port Authority application that he was a college graduate, defense lawyers say. He was a political blogger in New Jersey, writing under the pseudonym of Wally Edge, the name of a former governor. His blogging identity was a mystery for a decade even as he compiled dirt on politicians statewide.

Kelly’s attorney Michael Critchley promises to unmask Wildstein’s true nature. One of New Jersey’s top defense lawyers, he has represented mobsters, politicians and business executives, and his cross-examinations are considered great courtroom theater.

“I will show you without a doubt that that man is a liar,” Critchley said in his opening.

Wildstein, who liked to be called “the enforcer,” instilled fear in people at the Port Authority, and Christie likened him to Mr. Wolf, the character in the movie “Pulp Fiction” who cleaned up crime scenes for other criminals, Critchley said.

“He almost wanted to be a make-believe tough guy,” Critchley said. “He said to someone, ‘I’m a bully. You do what I say. I’m a bully. I’m a bad guy.”’