The seven-week trial last fall of Mr. Baroni and Ms. Kelly revealed Mr. Christie’s aggressive political operation, which seemed as focused on carving a path to the White House as it was on the needs of New Jersey.

While Mr. Christie was never charged in the scandal, Judge Susan D. Wigenton alluded to the political culture his administration created on Wednesday as she handed down her sentences against Mr. Baroni and Ms. Kelly at the federal courthouse in Newark, calling it a toxic “with us or against us” mentality detrimental to New Jersey residents.

“What occurred in September of 2013 was an outrageous display of abuse of power,” Judge Wigenton said.

From the moment Ms. Kelly’s email became public, Mr. Christie’s then soaring political ambitions were dealt a blow from which he would never recover. From the daily news reports to the assembly hearings and investigations to the trial of Mr. Baroni and Ms. Kelly, the Bridgegate scandal became almost synonymous with Mr. Christie. As he sought the Republican presidential nomination himself, once a favorite and then a long-shot, the drumbeat of the scandal followed him from Iowa to New Hampshire.

As he attached himself and his political career to Mr. Trump, it was again the scandal that deadened his aspirations, this time as a potential running mate; the governor himself allowed that Bridgegate was “a factor” in Mr. Trump overlooking him for the ticket. And while Mr. Trump never gave a specific reason, Mr. Christie’s role as transition chief for the newly elected Trump administration was terminated a week after the convictions for Mr. Baroni and Ms. Kelly were handed down.