Gov. Chris Christie, left, and Bridget Anne Kelly, right, in Seaside Heights, N.J., September 2013. | Tim Larsen/Office of the Governor Of N.J. via Getty Images Kelly's lawyer suggests Christie knew Bridgegate plan before closures took place

NEWARK — Gov. Chris Christie and one of his senior aides talked about the plan to close lanes to the George Washington Bridge before the political revenge scheme was implemented, and then again as it was unfolding, an attorney for the now-former aide suggested on Tuesday in federal court.

Attorney Michael Critchley, who represents defendant Bridget Anne Kelly, asked a witness in U.S. District Court if she knew Kelly and the Republican governor “had discussions about the lane closures before they occurred,” and again later. The witness, former Christie aide Deborah Gramiccioni, said she did not know.


But Gramiccioni did say she joined Kelly and Christie at a lunch on August 13, 2013 — the same day Kelly sent the now-infamous “time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee” email. The lane closures took place less than a month later, causing days of gridlock in the Bergen County community.

Gramiccioni and Kelly held the same rank at the time, deputy chief of staff to the governor, both overseeing different areas of front office operations. Gramiccioni said she heard no discussions about the lane closures while she was at the lunch with Christie, and did not learn until December that Kelly was involved.

The governor, currently a top adviser to Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, has repeatedly denied any knowledge of or involvement in the incident.

Christie has not been charged with any crimes, though the admitted mastermind of the plan, David Wildstein, testified under oath that he and Bill Baroni, the other defendant in the case, told the governor about the traffic problems that were being caused by the lane closures as they were occurring.

Gramiccioni, a former federal prosecutor and now a nominee to be a Superior Court judge in New Jersey, testified earlier in the day about a meeting later that December in which Christie — furious and yelling — demanded to know if any of his senior staff had emails or information about the lane closures.

By then, controversy was growing and lawmakers were asking more and more questions about who was really behind the episode and why it had occurred. The official line was that it was part of a failed traffic study.

On the morning of Dec. 13, 2013, Christie summoned his senior staff to his office with questions about the incident. Christie was set to hold a high-profile press conference in an hour to announce the resignation of Baroni, his top appointee at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

Christie wore his emotions on his sleeve, according to Gramiccioni, who Christie had decided to name to Baroni’s job at the Port Authority, which operates the bridge.

“During this meeting with the governor and senior staff, the governor was incredibly angry and let us know how angry he was,” Gramiccioni testified under questioning by federal prosecutors. “In a thunderous tone, told us how disappointed he was that he had just won a landslide victory and was now dealing with a number of things, one of them being the lane closure.”

He gave his team a deadline: Staff had one hour to tell either of his two highest ranking aides, Counsel Charles McKenna or Chief of Staff Kevin O’Dowd, what they knew, according to Gramiccioni.

Gramiccioni testified that she had already told McKenna and O’Dowd that she heard Kelly was on emails involving the lane closures. She said she also told Christie that a day earlier. And Gramiccioni said that Baroni was the one who told her.

Gramiccioni testified that after the meeting with the governor, she continued to prepare for the press conference, but at several points saw into Kelly’s office. O’Dowd was hovering over Kelly’s shoulder, looking at her computer screen. She said she also “believed” she saw Bill Stepien, the governor’s campaign manager, standing in the corner.

Christie held his press conference, and of course was asked about the lane closures and whether he could “say with certainty” that no one on his staff had been involved. Christie said he could.

Later in the day, before leaving the statehouse, Gramiccioni said she saw Kelly in her office. Kelly looked like she’d been crying, so she said she went to talk to her.

“She said that she had been looking at her computer through her emails all morning and she didn’t know if she had any emails regarding the lane closures,” Gramiccioni said. “I didn’t understand that.”

Kelly said she would routinely delete emails because she had a contentious relationship with her ex-husband and didn’t want her children to find any emails between them, Gramiccioni recalled.

“I said, did you have anything to do with this?” Gramiccioni said. “And she adamantly denied having anything to do with the lane closures.”

Gramiccioni said she told Kelly, who she considered a friend, that she should come clean if she had anything to do with the incident.

A month later, after the email was released in which Kelly declared it was “time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee,” Christie fired Kelly.

Gramiccioni, a former assistant U.S. attorney who is currently executive director of the Center of the Administration of Criminal Law at the NYU Law School, was nominated this year by Christie for a Superior Court judgeship in Monmouth County. The nomination is still pending before the state Senate.

This post has been updated and written through with more news from the trial.