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Bridget Anne Kelly, left, at a cabinet meeting in November, is a former deputy chief of staff to Gov. Chris Christie. Kelly was fired from her position by the governor in January, after emails emerged apparently showing her instructing that there be a traffic jam created in Fort Lee.

(Saed Hindash/The Star-Ledger)

Bridget Anne Kelly, considered a crucial figure in unraveling the George Washington Bridge lane closures, is refusing to produce documents and information requested under subpoena by the state legislative committee investigating the controversy, The Star-Ledger has learned.

In a letter issued today by the lawyer for Kelly, who last month was fired as Gov. Chris Christie’s deputy chief of staff after emails emerged showing she had apparently orchestrated the lane closures, Kelly cited both her Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and Fourth Amendment privacy rights.

Michael Critchley, Kelly’s lawyer — widely known as an aggressive and skilled trial lawyer – wrote in the letter that, “Here, the information demanded from Ms. Kelly … directly overlaps with a parallel federal grand jury investigation being conducted by the United States Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey.

“As such … Ms. Kelly asserts her rights under the Fifth Amendment of the United States Constitution and New Jersey law and will not produce the information demanded by the Committee.”

BRIDGET KELLY'S RESPONSE TO SUBPOENA

Critchley sent the letter late today to Reid Schar, special counsel to a joint Senate and Assembly committee investigating the September lane closures. The Star-Ledger obtained a copy of the letter shortly after it was sent to Schar.

Critchley further argued that because the subpoena attempted to compel Kelly to use her "own mind" to review and analyze information, it had a "testimonial aspect" that made her use of the Fifth Amendment appropriate.

"The Fifth Amendment's protections are not limited to verbal testimony," the lawyer wrote in the letter, citing case law.

In another portion of the letter, Critchley argued certain subpoena demands were "impermissibly overbroad" and invasive.

"Providing the committee with unfettered access to, among other things, Ms. Kelly's personal diaries, calendars and all of her electronic devices amounts to an inappropriate and unlimited invasion of the Ms. Kelly's personal privacy," he wrote.

Reached by phone this evening, Critchley said the letter was "meant to ensure that my client's rights are fully protected." He also said Kelly has not received a subpoena from federal prosecutors.

The legislative committee’s deadline for subpoenas to 18 people and two organizations was today, but its leaders, Assemblyman John Wisniewski (D-Middlesex) and Sen. Loretta Weinberg (D-Bergen), said little on the day’s developments other than announcing that "numerous extensions" had been granted and no documents would be released to the public yet.

In response to Critchley's letter, Weinberg and Wisniewski said this evening, "We just received Mr. Critchley’s letter. We are reviewing it and considering our legal options with respect to enforcing the subpoena."

Kelly, a 41-year-old mother of four from Ramsey, is the second figure in the bridge scandal who has refused to provide documents requested under subpoena by the committee. Last Friday, Bill Stepien, a former re-election campaign manager for Christie, also refused to produce information. Like Kelly, he cited his Fifth Amendment and Fourth Amendment constitutional rights and similar state rights.

On Jan. 8, Kelly was thrust into the national spotlight — and terminated the next morning by Christie — after a string of emails involving Kelly and other associates of the governor became public. In one exchange from August, Kelly wrote to an official at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which controls the bridge and its access lanes: "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee."

Several weeks later, Fort Lee, a small town at the bridge's lip, faced days of historic traffic jams as Port Authority shut off lanes leading from Fort Lee onto the bridge, considered the world's busiest.

Many politicians and others claim emails made public last month show that Kelly and other Christie aides and associates conspired to close off the lanes as political payback aimed at Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich, who did not endorse Christie for re-election.

Wisniewski has said one aim of his legislative investigatory panel is to determine how and why Kelly conspired with the governor's allies at the Port Authority to restrict access to the bridge from Fort Lee.

The broader objective for investigators is to find out if other members of the administration were involved. Wisniewski has said Kelly has clearly been implicated with her email, "Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee," but the assemblyman questioned whether she had authorization from a superior.

"We need to figure out why she thought she could send those orders out," Wisniewski said. "Clearly it's the middle of the conversation."

In concluding his 5-page letter to Schar -- which was packed with both case-law cites and quotes -- Critchley wrote that "there has been public and vocal criticism by certain legislators in response to past assertions of constitutional rights" in the bridge scandal.

Apparently seeking to blunt such criticism, he then quoted a U.S. Supreme Court case that addresses use of the Fifth Amendment. The quote read, "Too many, even those who should be better advised, view this privilege as a shelter for wrong-doers....The privilege serves to protect the innocent who otherwise might be ensnared in ambiguous circumstances."

RELATED COVERAGE

• Timeline of Port Authority's George Washington Bridge controversy

• Complete coverage of bridge scandal







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