Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey lied to reporters when he said he did not believe any senior member of his staff knew about the plot to block traffic to the George Washington Bridge, one of his aides told a colleague in a text message that was part of a court document filed on Wednesday.
Are you listening? the aide, Christina Renna, texted a colleague. He just flat out lied, Ms. Renna wrote. Then she added that if certain emails were discovered, it could be bad.
According to a filing in United States District Court in Newark, Ms. Renna sent those texts on Dec. 13, 2013, as Mr. Christie was fielding questions from reporters about his knowledge of the alleged scheme to tie up traffic three months earlier on the New Jersey side of the bridge. The filing was made by lawyers for Bill Baroni, who was Mr. Christies top executive appointee at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the bridge.
Federal prosecutors contend that two lanes leading to the bridge were abruptly closed to punish the Democratic mayor of Fort Lee, N.J., for declining to endorse Mr. Christies bid for re-election. Mr. Baroni and Bridget Anne Kelly, a former deputy chief of staff to Mr. Christie, a Republican, are scheduled to stand trial in that case next month.
