Prosecutors want to determine if federal laws were broken in bridge scandal

U.S. attorneys issued subpoenas to New Jersey Governor Chris Christie’s re-election campaign this week, campaign lawyers said Thursday.

The subpoenas came as federal prosecutors advance their preliminary inquiry on whether aides to the governor intentionally snarled traffic in a New Jersey town for political revenge.

“We can confirm that the Christie for Governor re-election campaign and the New Jersey Republican State Committee received subpoenas for documents from the U.S. Attorney’s office,” Mark Sheridan wrote in an email. Sheridan, a partner at Patton Boggs, is representing both the campaign and committee.

“All three subpoenas focus on the closure of lanes on the George Washington Bridge,” he added.

Earlier this month, documents were released revealing Christie aides and allies conspired to close lanes near the George Washington Bridge after the mayor of Fort Lee, N.J. refused to back the governor’s re-election bid. Christie has since apologized and fired a top aide implicated in the documents, but claims ignorance of the affair.

Christie’s re-election campaign has also received subpoenas from the state legislature. The inquiry by the office of U.S. attorney Paul Fishman, federal prosecutor of Newark, was announced earlier this month and focuses on whether federal laws have been broken.

“The campaign and the state party intend to cooperate with the U.S. Attorney’s office and the state legislative committee and will respond to the subpoenas accordingly,” Sheridan said.