NEWARK - The attorney for a former top Gov. Chris Christie aide claimed Monday his client was thrown "under the presidential bus" when she took the fall and was charged by federal prosecutors in the George Washington Bridge lane closure scandal.

Bridget Anne Kelly, the governor's former deputy chief of staff, was not pulling the strings, defense attorney Michael Critchley told jurors in opening arguments.

Instead, he called "the idea that Bridget Kelly is directing the affairs of the state of New Jersey" as "almost laughable," suggesting larger powers were at play when access lanes to the busiest bridge were closed on the eve of Christie's 2013 re-election.

"It's about a presidential campaign," Critchley said.

He asked jurors to remember back in 2013 when Christie, who just sailed to re-election, was widely acknowledged as the Republican Party's frontrunner in the 2016 presidential campaign.

Kelly shouldn't be elevated to "some grandiose position," Critchley said, noting she only held the deputy chief of staff title for three months.

Rather, David Wildstein wanted to "shine in Chris Christie's eyes" as the governor readied for a nationwide campaign, Critchley argued.

"He wants to be on the national Chris Christie presidential team," he said.

Khanna also told jurors Wildstein, who pleaded guilty to federal crimes and turned cooperating witness for prosecutors, would take the stand in the trial and "admit that he was the one who came up with that idea."

"He will also tell you that (Bridget Anne) Kelly instructed him to take that action and Baroni blessed it," he said.

On trial are Kelly, the governor's former deputy chief of staff, and Baroni, once a close associate and deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the bridge. They are charged with nine counts of conspiracy, fraud and related charges in connection with the September 2013 toll lane shutdowns at the bridge -- an incident that caused massive traffic problems in Fort Lee in what prosecutors called an act of political retribution targeting Mayor Mark Sokolich for his refusal to endorse Christie for re-election. Wildstein plead guilty to federal corruption charges last year and is testifying for the prosecution.

Kelly, who authored the infamous "time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee" email, was pictured by her attorney as a hard-working mother of four who was in over her head. She was hardly the orchestrator of a scheme that resulted in federal prosecutors charging her and former Port Authority executive Bill Baroni with nine crimes.

And much like Baroni's attorney argued prosecutors' chief witness - Baroni's second in command at the Port Authority - couldn't be trusted, Critchley echoed those remarks. He too assailed Wildstein's character.

But Critchley went further.

He suggested Wildstein is going to any lengths, "wheeling and dealing" now like he always has, in exchange to throw Kelly under the bus to live his "millionaire" life in Florida, where he now resides, without ever serving time behind bars.

Ted Sherman may be reached at tsherman@njadvancemedia.com. Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MatthewArco or on Facebook. Follow NJ.com Politics on Facebook.