Punishing the mayor of Fort Lee? “I don’t have any recollection of having met the mayor of Fort Lee,” he said. (Twitter then exploded with copies of a photo of the governor with the mayor, Mark Sokolich, a Democrat.)

Is there a bottom of this story to get to? “I don’t think so,” Mr. Christie said, shrugging again. He added, “We’re going to turn the page now.”

Mr. Christie understands the stakes: Because he is a leading contender for the Republican presidential nomination, Democrats and the news media will watch his every move. (“Get used to the new world,” he told one reporter on Friday, smiling.)

He was not quite taking responsibility: more like putting distance. The lanes had been closed, he said twice, “at the request of Mr. Wildstein” — David Wildstein, an old friend of Mr. Christie’s, who resigned from his $150,000-a-year job at the Port Authority a week ago.

Asked about Bill Baroni, another close friend and the governor’s chief appointee at the Port Authority until he resigned on Friday, Mr. Christie said he had not spoken to him “in the last period of time.”

By the end of the hour, the governor tried to turn the situation to his advantage, offering that he wished more people in public life would own up to their mistakes. His office followed up by emailing a video clip from the news conference headlined, “I Take Responsibility for Things That Happen on My Watch.” It opened with him saying, “I wouldn’t characterize myself as angry.”