The governor posted a cheerful photograph of himself, his wife and their daughters with one of the interviewers, Diane Sawyer, on Instagram. (“My girls were excited.”) He left the news conference to fly to Las Vegas, where he was planning to speak at a conference billed as a beauty contest among Republican presidential hopefuls who are seeking the financial backing of the casino magnate Sheldon G. Adelson.

Mr. Christie’s office had spent the week rolling out his reintroduction. On Monday, it issued a news release promoting an article in The New York Times about the report as one that “drills down on the comprehensive scope of the internal investigation.”

On Thursday, a news conference where the lawyers hired to do the internal review released their results was attended by a press secretary for Mr. Christie, suggesting coordination with his office. The report dropped the tabloid-ready detail that two of the aides Mr. Christie let go in January — Bridget Anne Kelly and Bill Stepien — had had a relationship. While the report did not explain why this was relevant, it became a center of attention in much of the coverage.

But the often skeptical reaction to the report showed the difficulty Mr. Christie faces as he tries to turn the page from the lane closings — particularly with federal and legislative investigations continuing. Pundits and editorial pages panned Mr. Christie for “whining” to Ms. Sawyer, and the report as a “million-dollar whitewash” — the cost, which Mr. Christie’s lawyers declined to detail, is expected to be several million dollars. Among other criticisms: The report raised more questions than it answered; failed to interview the key players; and felt like a legal defense more than an objective search for the truth.

Editorial boards noted that one of the former federal prosecutors who wrote it was a close friend of Mr. Christie’s. The Washington Post noted that the firm Mr. Christie praised for its professionalism was the same one Richard M. Nixon praised in his Checkers speech.

A lawyer for Ms. Kelly, whom the report blamed for the lane closings — which crippled Fort Lee, on the New Jersey side of the George Washington Bridge, for four days in September — issued a statement on Friday criticizing the report’s “venomous, gratuitous, and inappropriate sexist remarks concerning Ms. Kelly.”

The statement rebutted Mr. Christie’s portrayal of Ms. Kelly as a liar, saying she had “worked tirelessly to pursue the goals of the office” and promising that if she were given immunity by prosecutors, she could tell what she knew.