Speaking briefly at a press conference hours after she was indicted on charges including fraud and conspiracy over the closure of George Washington Bridge access lanes in September 2013, former Chris Christie aide Bridget Kelly declared her innocence and said that David Wildstein—a government official who implicated Kelly and pleaded guilty in the case Friday—is “a liar.” Wildstein says that he, Kelly, and another indicted Christie aid named Bill Baroni were responsible for planning and implementing nuisance-causing lane closures in Fort Lee, New Jersey in order to retaliate against the town’s mayor for not endorsing Christie’s gubernatorial campagin.
Kelly is the aide who infamously wrote “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee” in an email to Wildstein in August 2013. She seemed to suggest today that the “traffic problems” message and other emails related to the lane closures were sarcastic. From CNN:
“I realize that my offhanded attempts at sarcasm and humor were not as witty as they were intended to be,” she said. “But even with this acknowledgment … I am not guilty for the crimes of which I have been accused.”
Said Kelly: “I never ordered or conspired with David Wildstein to close or realign lanes at the [George Washington] Bridge for any reason, much less for retribution … As a lifelong resident of Bergen County who regularly uses the George Washington Bridge as well as the access lanes through Fort Lee, I know how disruptive and frustrating it is to sit in severe traffic at the bridge.”
