Ex-aide: Christie ‘flat out lied’ about Bridgegate

A former aide to Chris Christie once said that the New Jersey governor “flat out lied” about his awareness of his staff’s involvement in the “Bridgegate” scandal, according to new court filings.

Christine Renna, who worked under Christie’s deputy chief of staff, made the claim in a text message to Peter Sheridan, a Christie campaign aide in 2013.

The text was sent during a 2013 press conference in which the governor denied that his administration was involved in lane closures on the George Washington Bridge.

The text message was released Wednesday in a new court filing, first reported by NorthJersey.com and posted online by Politico, in the case against Bill Baroni, a former Port Authority official, and Christie’s former deputy chief of staff Bridget Anne Kelly over the closures.

“Are you listening? He just flat out lied about senior staff and [former deputy chief of staff Bill] Stepien not being involved,” Renna said in the text sent on Dec. 13, 2013, according to a transcript.

“I’m listening,” Sheridan replied. “Gov is doing fine. Holding his own up there.”

“Yes. But he lied,” Renna texted back. “And if emails are found with the subpoena or [campaign] emails are uncovered in discovery if it comes to that it could be bad.”

Renna later deleted the text messages.

Christie said during the December 2013 press conference that he had “absolutely no reason to believe” that anyone on his staff was involved with the lane closures, according to a transcript.

“I’ve made it very clear to everybody on my senior staff that if anyone had any knowledge about this that they needed to come forward to me and tell me about it, and they’ve all assured me that they don’t,” Christie said.

“I’ve spoken to Mr. Stepien, who’s the person in charge of the campaign, and he has assured me the same thing,” he added when a reporter asked specifically about his campaign manager.

Bill Stepien, who has not been charged, was fired a month later when it was discovered that he knew about the lane closings.

Christie, a former 2016 Republican presidential hopeful and a current adviser to Donald Trump, has denied any involvement in the scandal, in which traffic jams were deliberately created in Fort Lee to retaliate against town Mayor Mark Sokolich’s refusal to endorse Christie in his gubernatorial reelection.

On Wednesday, Christie denied that he lied, saying “there’s nothing new to talk about.”

“I absolutely dispute it. It’s ridiculous. It’s nothing new,” he said, according to the Associated Press.

A spokesman in the governor’s office added that the messages don’t reveal anything damaging to Christie.

“The Governor’s statements have been clear,” said Brian Murray in a statement. “Nothing contained in this text message changes that in any way. He stands by those statements completely and unequivocally.”

This story was updated at 2:58 p.m.