Christie Traffic Jams Prosecutor

U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman, who is seeking a protective order to keep evidence in the Bridgegate investigation secret. (Rich Schultz | AP file photo)

NEWARK —Federal prosecutors are trying to keep secret more than 1.5 million pages of documents connected to the investigation into the George Washington Bridge scandal, which led to criminal charges earlier this month against two former associates of Gov. Chris Christie.

Defense attorneys, however, argue that there is no justification for such a broad request, and say they will fight the proposal to keep the evidence confidential.

At issue is a request by the U.S. Attorney's office now before a federal judge for a wide-ranging protective order on everything it shares with the defense, saying the material contains a substantial amount of private information.

"Some of it is relatively personal in nature and pertains to information about people not involved in the case--including information and emails of a highly personal nature," said U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman.

Fishman said there was a need to protect the privacy interests of people not charged and tied only indirectly to the case.

"In every criminal case we have an obligation to provide the defense with all the material that's relevant to the case that we have that they might not have," he said. "This is just an effort by us to put in place a mechanism that wont hamper their ability to prepare their defense."

A political vendetta

Charged in the high-profile case now known as "Bridgegate" are Bill Baroni, the former deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and Bridget Anne Kelly, a former deputy chief of staff of Christie -- who were accused of orchestrating the September 2013 lane closures at the George Washington Bridge that tied up traffic in Fort Lee for days.

The two were indicted earlier this month on nine counts of conspiracy, fraud and related charges, in what prosecutors said was a political vendetta aimed at punishing the Democratic mayor of Fort Lee after he decided not to endorse the Republican governor for re-election.

Baroni and Kelly have both entered not guilty pleas. Former Port Authority official David Wildstein, who worked for Baroni and was in communication with Kelly, has pleaded guilty to his role in the lane closings and is cooperating with federal prosecutors.

Earlier this week, U.S. District Judge Susan Wigenton in Newark pushed back the start of criminal trial for the two to November. The trial had been initially scheduled to begin on July 7.

In the motion filed Tuesday for the protective order, prosecutors said the evidence collected by investigators over the nearly 16-month investigation included computer data, recordings, telephone records, emails, texts, financial records, materials obtained through search warrants, and the affidavits in support of those search warrants

Instead of sorting through all the material and redacting anything not relevant to the case, Fishman said his office was ready to immediately provide everything it had obtained to the defense, on the condition that none of it be publicly disclosed without advance notice.

"I don't understand the objection," said Fishman. There's no piece of evidence that's being hidden from the defense."

An overly broad order

Attorneys for Kelly and Baroni called the U.S. Attorney's request totally unwarranted.

"There is no basis for a protective order in this case," said Michael Baldassare of Newark, who represents Baroni. "It is not a matter of national security and no one's lives would be endangered based on this discovery. Secrecy raises suspicion."

Kelly's attorney, Michael Critchley of West Orange, said the proposed protective order was overly broad and restrictive.

"The government says it has 1.5 million documents. I haven't even seen them. I can't agree to a confidentiality order on documents I haven't seen," he remarked. "And when you balance privacy concerns against my client's Sixth Amendment rights, the Sixth Amendment wins out every time."

At the same time, he said the proposed order says he would be limited to showing evidence collected by the government only to prospective witnesses.

"It's too restrictive," Critchley said. "I want to show it to anyone who can assist me in the preparation of my defense and not just witnesses."

Both sides said the matter is expected to play out in court over the coming weeks.

Ted Sherman may be reached at tsherman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TedShermanSL. Find NJ.com on Facebook.