Witness: Christie, Cuomo talked about report to make Bridgegate 'go away'

NEWARK — Governor Christie and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo discussed in October 2013 issuing a report on lane closures a month earlier to make questions about them “go away,” David Wildstein, a former agency executive who has pleaded guilty to his role in the payback scheme, said Tuesday.

A small group of officials at the Port Authority, the bi-state agency controlled by the governors of New York and New Jersey, worked with top Christie staff on the report, Wildstein testified in court. But it was never issued. Instead, the report served as the basis for the November 2013 testimony of Bill Baroni, the agency's deputy executive director, in front of a legislative committee investigating the lane closures, Wildstein said. During that testimony, Baroni insisted that the closures over four mornings that September were part of a traffic study.

Witness: Christie told of Bridgegate scheme at 9/11 memorial

Christie has denied having knowledge of the lane closures as they were happening, but Wildstein has testified that Baroni told the governor of the traffic before a Sept. 11 ceremony. Wildstein said Tuesday that he was aware of talks between the two governors of having the agency issue a report that would acknowledge errors and accept responsibility for a purported traffic study.

“My understanding was that Governor Christie and Governor Cuomo had discussed this,” Wildstein said, adding he was told that information by David Samson, then the Port Authority chairman. “My understanding at the time was that it would put an end to this issue.”

Baroni and Christie's former deputy chief of staff Bridget Anne Kelly are fighting charges they worked with Wildstein to close access lanes to the bridge to punish Fort Lee's Democratic mayor for not endorsing Christie's re-election.

Wildstein said last week that the report included traffic data and information that would back up his admitted cover story of a traffic study at the bridge. Wildstein said Tuesday that Samson, who has pleaded guilty to bribery in an investigation stemming from the lane closures, discussed drafting the report with Christie's chief counsel at the time, Charles McKenna, and Regina Egea, who would later become his chief of staff. Those three, Wildstein said, “authorized” the report. The intention, he said, was for the agency's executive director, Patrick Foye, "sign off" on the report.

Wildstein was on his sixth day of cross-examination Tuesday.