Dustin Racioppi

The (Bergen County, N.J.) Record

TRENTON, N.J. — Trailing his opponent in the polls and lagging in field staff, GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump bolstered his campaign this week by tapping a former close adviser to Gov. Chris Christie whose ascent in national Republican politics was shot down by the disclosure that he had knowledge of the politically motivated lane closures at the George Washington Bridge.

Bill Stepien was hired this week as Trump’s national field director, overseeing the campaign’s political operations and voter turnout efforts. The hire was first reported Friday by The New York Times.

Christie once lauded Stepien’s political gifts as among the best in the country and said he was one of his closest advisers in recent years. But Christie cut ties with Stepien on Jan. 19, 2014, after learning that his former deputy chief of staff and campaign manager showed “callous indifference” and lack of judgment in emails among staff that prosecutors say orchestrated the five-day traffic jam that has become known as Bridgegate.

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Stepien had been an integral player to Christie’s national stardom and was set to advise the Republican Governors Association and chart Christie’s own path to the White House. But Christie said after reading the emails showing Stepien had knowledge of the traffic scheme, “it made me lose my confidence in Bill’s judgment,” and instructed him to withdraw his consultancy as well as remove his name from consideration to run New Jersey’s Republican State Committee.

“You cannot have someone at the top of your political operation who you do not have confidence in,” Christie said at the time, adding, “If I cannot trust someone’s judgment, I cannot ask others to do so.”

Christie said during a news conference in Toms River on Friday that he “did not consult with Donald Trump on this decision.” He added, “Mr. Trump’s campaign has confidence in him. They hired him.”

“I wish Bill the best of luck. I wish the campaign the best of luck,” Christie said.

Stepien’s attorney did not return a message seeking comment.

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Stepien, who has not been charged in the bridge case, kept a low profile after Christie severed ties with him in 2014. But he recently re-emerged on New Jersey’s political scene, helping the Assembly Republicans in last year’s election and, more recently, serving as executive director of the think tank chaired by Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, who is expected to run for governor next year.

Stepien is the latest close associate of Christie to join Trump’s campaign, as the Republican nominee bolsters his team to face Democrat Hillary Clinton in November. Former Christie chief of staff Rich Bagger is managing Trump’s transition team.

Trump also recently hired Matt Mowers, who ran Christie’s presidential campaign in New Hampshire and was a regional director in the now-defunct unit led by Bridget Anne Kelly, who wrote the “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee” email that prosecutors say triggered the GWB lane closures. Two other Christie associates have been charged or pleaded guilty in the trial, scheduled to open Sept. 19.

The addition of former Christie staffers could potentially shine unwanted light on the Trump campaign as the trial plays out. It is expected to last about six weeks — or until about a week before the presidential election. Christie said Friday that he suspects that “by the time we get to October or so it will finally be over.” And he said he would “of course” testify in the trial “if I’m served with a proper and appropriate subpoena.” But he said no subpoena has been issued to him.

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Christie reaffirmed his own innocence in the scandal, saying that three separate investigations have found he had no knowledge or involvement in the scheme.

Despite those investigations, questions still hang over Christie. Trump himself said during the primary campaign last December that Christie “totally knew” about the lane closures. And in a recent court filing by defense attorneys, a former aide, Christina Renna, sent a text message to a former Christie campaign staffer as the governor assured reporters, three weeks before he cut ties with Stepien, that he had been assured by Stepien that he had no involvement in the scheme.

“Are you listening? He just flat out lied about senior staff and Stepien not being involved,” Renna wrote.

In his first detailed comments on Renna’s message, Christie distanced himself from the former director of the Intergovernmental Affairs Unit, where she reported to Kelly. Renna, who now works for the South Jersey Chamber of Commerce, had been with Christie’s administration since 2010, his first year in office.

Christie said Renna’s text message was “absolutely untrue” and that “She would have no basis to even know that since during the entire time she worked for me, if I spoke to her one or two times, that’s a lot.”