Bob Jordan and Dustin Racioppi

Asbury Park (N.J.) Press

Former official%27s attorney says evidence exists that Christie new about lane closures

Christie%27s press office denies accusation

Lane closures tied up traffic to George Washington Bridge for days

ASBURY PARK, N.J. -- Investigations of the George Washington Bridge scandal will take sharper focus this week because of a new claim that evidence exists tying Republican Gov. Chris Christie directly to last September's lane closings as they were happening.

Conflicting versions of what Christie knew — and when he knew it — emerged after Friday's bombshell accusation by Alan Zegas, the attorney for David Wildstein, who through Christie had gained a patronage job with a $150,000 salary at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey

In a letter to the Port Authority, Zegas said Christie knew of the access-lane closings that tied up traffic in Fort Lee for four days, "contrary to what the governor stated publicly in a two-hour press conference," he wrote.

But Zegas did not specify in the letter what the evidence is, and he didn't return requests for comment. Meanwhile, the parties with stakes in the probe have parsed words to present completely different interpretations of the same statements.

Christie's press office denied the accusation and said the governor had no knowledge or involvement in an alleged plot to manipulate bridge access lanes as political retribution.

The New Jersey Legislative Select Committee on Investigation has set a Monday deadline to receive information from 20 subpoenas issued to Port Authority officials and members of the Christie administration and his campaign team. Federal prosecutors have launched their own probe.

The Zegas letter is designed to raise doubts about the governor's claim to have no knowledge of the lane closings, likely to give Wildstein some leverage as the heat is increasing from the investigations, said Eric Dixon, a New York attorney who has experience with political investigations.

For Wildstein, "there is an eagerness to cut a deal," Dixon said. For Christie, "if Wildstein is to be believed, it means Christie is being evasive at best and lying at worst," Dixon said.

Democratic state Sen. Raymond Lesniak said if Wildstein's claim is true, the state Assembly should start impeachment proceedings.