NRO Questions Christie Claims

Andrew McCarthy questions the veracity of Governor Chris Christie (R-NJ) on the bridge scandal in National Review Online.

Back on December 23, Christie held an “Ask the Governor” townhall-style radio meeting conducted by the local station, NJ 101.5 FM. He was pointedly asked about the so-called Bridgegate scandal...Christie explained at another point in the radio meeting, he had already looked thoroughly into the matter with the help of his staff. “I’ve asked my staff to give me a full briefing,” he told Scott and listeners. “They’ve told me everything that we know. None of this makes sense; it’s all about politics. None of it makes sense.”

Let’s assume for argument’s sake that Christie’s top aides — the ones he knows best, and who know him best — could conceivably have acted without his knowledge. Let’s also imagine that, after years of working closely with him, they would conduct themselves in a manner inconsistent with the climate he has created in his office. The questions remain: What kind of briefing did Christie get before December 23? Who gave him the briefing, what questions did he ask, and what evidence was he shown? And if his own appointees were claiming that the lane closures were over a traffic study, why was he simultaneously saying that the scandal “makes no sense” but that he had no interest in seeing the purported traffic study that caused it? How could a former top investigator content himself with a “full briefing” that did not include the phantom “traffic study”?

At the least Christie's current claim that his staff acted on their own without his knowledge seems to contradict his claim of being briefed by that same staff before December 23 on "everything that we know." It is telling that among those questioning his account is a conservative journal like NRO.