baroni, do you believe the governor was behind this? >> this is the thing, and this is why a day before this happened, there was a ruling made by the judge about the instructions to the jury. and the judge basically said to a question that the jury asked, you did not have to believe that bridget kelly and bill baroni were aware this was a payback scheme as they were carrying out. they didn't have to know all of the details of the nature of this. you just have to know that they were understood, they understood this was not on the up-and-up, what they were doing. the judge when they made the determination, said, you just found them guilty. set the bar so low, that the jury -- the strategy of the defense was that they hoped in the jurors' room, the jurors looked at this and say, why isn't christie the one on trial. why are we getting the underlings? >> let me ask you a logic question. why would they do this if it wasn't for the political purposes of their boss? they're not getting five cents out of this. not any personal gain. nothing out

quote, the indictment strongly implies that mr. baroni was the impetus for starting the lane closures on the first day of school in ft. lee. however, as the government knows -- redacted, redacted, redacted, redacted. after that one line is redacted, it says this, once again, an act is inappropriately laid at mr. baroni's feet. that's kind of amazing, right? can we put that back up there again for a second on screen. this is a really dramatic place to put a big black line. that's basically saying, hey, you know the indictment of bill baroni came up with the idea for bridgegate, but you guys know he didn't start it. you guys know he wasn't the impetus for bridgegate. you guys -- look, the government knows that it was beep! that's page one of the narrative of the bridgegate defense filings that went in at midnight last night. and as governor christie's presidential campaign is hoping that this trial is going to clear the air and settle this matter and get this cloud cleared from his presidential campaign. well, provocative redactions

baroni. wine winestein has pleaded guilty to many charges. we will see what he has to say in what comes from this. i think the governor has been exposed through all of this. whether he is guilty of knowing or not knowing to me is secondary. he has been exposed and i think his administration has proven to be a disaster for new jersey citizens. that's more important to me than dealing with the intricacies. the courts will deal with that. >> are you confident that christie didn't know? >> i believe the governor and i think he took immediate action when he found out. this is true leadership. the underlying behavior was appalling. i condemn it but leaders are faced with these types of crises and i think that he took immediate action when he found out about it. >> it's being done in his name. in the name of his reelection campaign. that's what prosecutors are saying. the mayor is refusing to endorse chris chris christie's reelection campaign. that these would feel the impulse to do something as dramatic to get the mayor to endorse the governor does

tonight, we learn mr. kwan has been subpoenaed. and this is very significant. because "the wall street journal" reported kwan spent parts of four to five days he helping to prepare bill baroni, the authority's deputy executive director for testimony in front of the new jersey legislature. it was that testimony where baroni said the lane closings were part of a traffic study. the traffic study claim is just not true. you can see mr. kwan sitting in the room. we will continue to watch this story. peoi go to angie's listt for all kinds of reasons. to gauge whether or not the projects will be done in a timely fashion and within budget. angie's list members can tell you which provider is the best in town. you'll find reviews on everything from home repair to healthcare. now that we're expecting, i like the fact i can go onto angie's list and look for pediatricians. the service providers that i've found on angie's list actually have blown me away. find out why more than two million members count on angie's list. angie's list -- reviews you can trust. woman: this is n

a female port authority police department officer who was possibly baroni's driver, then took mrs. christie to the bathroom. otherwise, mrs. christie was with him for the entire event. how is it that you do remember about your wife being guided to the wrong ladies' room? >> i think the details on where mrs. christie went to the restroom is really an important thing. there were probably a thousand dollars of legal fees. >> just for that detail. >> just for that detail. this report is so weird. you conduct an investigation like this, where you do all of these interviews and don't keep transcripts or recordings of the interviews, it's hard to think of any reason to do that other than you don't want people to come into possession of those transcripts of the interviews and use them in their own investigations. so it's another thing that points to this report, having been basically a political act trying to put forward chris christie's versions of events in the story and i don't think that was a good use of taxpayer money but i also don't think it was effective. this report hasn't been r

or mr. wildstein. and these are the key actors in this entire episode. and so how you come to a conclusion that the governor had no knowledge, in fact he may not have, but how you come to that conclusion without actually having the opportunity to interview these people, without having the opportunity to look at the documents they have, just seems like an incredible rush to a conclusion without all the facts. >> what's the status of your investigation right now? i know you said that a lot of the documents that you subpoenaed you expected to come in on a rolling basis and that there would be thousands of them and it would take a long time to go through them. what's the status and the sort of overall timeline on what you're doing? >> well, obviously we're waiting for judge jacobson's decision on bridget kelly and bill stepien's production of documents. we don't know when that will come. we're hoping it will come soon. we just received thousands of pages of documents from randy mastro as a precu

the times report that mr. wildstein told me he informed mr. christie at the memorial the lanes were closed. then this. several people with the governor that day or observed him said he and the people accompanying him, all three of whom have resigned from the port authority and the agency's police superintendent had ample opportunity to speak privately. there was a camper, a very hot day, an air-conditioned camper. all of them were in there together for an extended period of time. we have the pictures -- >> one shows the camper, too. >> they were in there for awhile. stk pictures are great and wonderful, good job in taking them, they don't prove anything. for all we know, they were talking about what they were having for lunch. >> true. >> even with respect to statements wildstein made to others that he conveyed to the governor that day about lane closures, there's been no allegation what so ever that anything was said about theal tier yor motive or this was done intentionally or that it's anything other than a traffic study where they closed s

mr. wildstein came before the committee as well. but as everyone is aware, he pled the fifth. ms. kelly has anyone spoken to directly? no, but we have been able to obtain subpoena documents. >> what about the governor, it doesn't quote him at all, including in the footnotes. has the governor talked to your committee? >> no, the governor has not come before our committee and we have not requested his presence before our committee. because we're doing our investigation as thorough as possible. and to do that, you need to get the documents first. review the documents and then question him on it. this particular report, quite honestly, everyone knew what was going to come out of it. what's appalling to me is that we have to foot this bill. that's appalling that the taxpayers of new jersey have to pay a million dollars for a report that says the governor did nothing. i'm not saying he did nothing, but were we expecting any other kind of an outcome? >> this report says it relied on 250,000 documents, your committee is trying to get its hand on documentation, does your committee as repre

and let me say a little gratuitously, mr. mastro with his high hourly salary didn't do a very good report. he issues a report without knowing the motive, without being able to speak to many of the main people in this. and then throwing in the gratuitous remarks about this so-called personal relationship is really -- because they describe david wildstein as the man with the crazy ideas. that man with the crazy ideas was hired to be the governor's eyes and ears at the port authority. and then they depict -- how are they depicting bridget kelly here? that somehow she was a woman scorned and therefore kind of gone wild on herself? >> dodgy. not to be believed. >> that's the woman he hired in his office. >> and by the way, worked less than 100 feet across the office. let me go back to brian about this. here is the one i thought was interesting. wildstein has said he told the governor about this when it was happening. now this report that cost all this money, $600,000 bucks, whatever, doesn't even say whether the governor had a con

mr. baroni responds, "thanks, william." william stepien. "loretta and wiz meeting new jersey senator loretta weinberg and senator john wisniewski will keep up their nonsense but at least we will have explained the counter narrative." the counter narrative. aka the cover story. so bill stepien who'd been chris christie's campaign manager tells bill baroni great job about his cover story, and bill baroni celebrates having sold the counter narrative. also disclosed today are e-mails that show bill stepien, then in the midst of running chris christie's re-election campaign being made aware of the infamous traffic problems in fort lee and fort lee's mayor being upset about it. the same week that the traffic problems were happening. contemporaneous to the lane closures bill stepien was in on it. chris christie's campaign manager was being made aware of the situation. these new texts are part of the latest court filings for a superior court judge in new jersey to consider whether or not bill stepien and bridget kelly have to comply with the commit

it would be mr. baroni. the times reported that is how the christie administration managed 9/11 wreckage for their own political gain. today the times reported that the christie administration has decided to stop doing that. at least the christie administration appointees have decided to stop doing that. the person who was chosen to replace bill baroni has decided she will give up the decision making authority over that 9/11 steel. the decision that bill baroni had ceded to his own office to use the ruins of 9/11 to help governor christie's re-election campaign. treating the relics like they were campaign buttons or swag bags at a campaign party. the person who has replaced bill baroni has decided to stop doing that, and allow the person who oversees all the other states to also oversee new jersey. it's weird timing, right? the same week that the new york times is reporting this cringe inducing story about political scheming by the christie administration involving one of the most sacred events in american h

this picture shows mr. baroni in his capacity as an executive of the port authority. he's speaking in 2012 in this photo. and this is at a ceremony where, see what he's got his hands on there? he is presenting to the mayor of secaucus, new jersey, one of the pieces of steel from the world trade center ruins. that is an actual piece of the world trade center he's giving to the mayor of secaucus. why did that mayor get that piece of the world trade center towers? "the new york times" today reports that beyond this difficult worldwide how will you commemorate 9/11 application process, another way people got pieces of the actual steel from the wreckage of the world trade center from that terrorist attack was to be a new jersey mayor who the christie administration was wooing for an endorsement for governor chris christie's re-election. according to the "times," pieces of steel from the ruins of the world trade center were, "presented by the port authority of new york and new jersey to 20 carefully chosen new jersey mayors who sat atop a list of 100 whose endorsements gove

what happened on the bridge, mr. nunziato, he was one of the only people who corroborated bill baroni's bogus story. when lawmakers were calling the explanation a fairy tale, it was paul nunziato who stuck up for him. he raised his hand, took credit for that supposed traffic study that lead to the lane closures, he was right, he was telling the truth, there really was a traffic study. he should know, since it was all his idea in the first place. when the port authority executive director criticized what happened on the bridge, it was paul who said that criticism was a load of garbage. paul also helped bill baroni along with the other part of the traffic study cover story, which is that not only was there no political motivation for shutting down the lanes on that bridge. it was really an innocent traffic study. it was an innocent traffic study that caused no harm, nothing like ambulances being delayed or police being delayed, nothing happened because of that traffic study. not only was it not a traffic study, ambulan

so did mr. wildstein. it's unfortunate for them that a mistake got made near the end of their tenure. but it's just the way life works sometimes. >> compared to that he's barely offered guadagno on constable anything. maybe we're reading too much into this. it seems possible as more and more revelations emerge, christie is a lot more hesitant to go to bat for his s subordinates and a lot less confident they'll be vindicated in the end. talk about all of this, i want to bring in democratic state senator linda greenstein of new jersey, charlie style with the bergen record. so, bob, i'll start with you. we had this little back and forth at the governor's office this week. it seemed -- i was thinking of past circumstances where political allies where one politician's ally is embattled and you sort of expect the public statement of full confidence, total support, all of this. am i reading too much or has that been noticeably absent? >> noticeably absent. so as his relationship with the press has changed since t

even more specifically, the planning of bill baroni's testimony to the legislature. where mr. baroni tried to hock that false cover story about what happened on the bridge saying it was about a traffic study. most of the subpoenas issued last week asked about the cover-up. a number of them asked specifically about a meeting that the committee seems to believe bill baroni attended along with philip kwon and regina egea later promoted to be governor christie's chief of staff and somebody named nicole crifo, also served with a subpoena. she was his liaison to the port authority. at least she worked for governor christie, past tense, because nicole crifo who investigators appear to believe they have been involved in a meeting about bill baroni's false testimony, the same nicole crifo referenced by david wildstein while giving feedback to baroni on the traffic study, assured him saying i texted bridget and nicole and they were very happy. that same, we think, nicole crifo no longer works for chris christie because she just got a brand new job. she just got a brand new job with, gue

then mr. baroni asks, just good? then he swears. then mr. wildstein goes on to assure him other trenton people who appear to be staffers in governor christie's office thought he did just great with his cover-up testimony. the "star-ledger" appears to be reporting that is where mr. wildstein texts this statement, o'toole statement ready, to bill baroni. o'toole statement ready. he sent that message right after bill baroni finished his testimony. sure enough on that same day, senator kevin o'toole released a statement that took the bill baroni line, repeated the story from his testimony, repeated the cover story about the supposed traffic study. the next day he published a similar version of the statement as an op-ped in the newspaper, in the "bergen record." think about this for a second. in the legislature, the highest profile person advancing the cover-up, advancing the false cover story about the fake traffic study in a statement he released from his office then an op-ped he released the next day, which apparently was ready to go as soon a

baroni's testimony concluded that day. i'm aware of the controversy that has been raised by that and some of the calls that have been made about his service on the committee. look. i've got to work with -- >> but that same day, assemblyman, there was a critical piece on the -- o'toole's website criticizing the hearing. >> correct that piece that is on his website also appeared in a new jersey political blog that carried that piece. but my point is. this i've got to work with senator o'toole. he is a member of the committee. i don't do the appointing of the member to the committee. as long as he is a member of the committee, i have to work with him. i'm aware of the controversy. my hope is senator o'toole can clear this up by explaining what happened and providing all the cooperation the committee seeks. >> assembly man john wisniewski, thank you for your time tonight. >> thank you, reverend. >>> ahead, more on my meeting with president obama and other civil rights leaders today. >>> and here is jimmy! jimmy fallon takes th

mr. nunziato has since been subpoenaed again. when bill baroni finished up his cover story testimony to the legislature, when he told the legislature it was a traffic study, it was a traffic study. as soon as he was finished with that false testimony that day, the first text message he sent to david wildstein as soon as he finished his testimony was this. three question marks. that's it. just question marks. nothing else. david wildstein responded immediately within the same minute, papd said all was fine. papd. port authority police department. only after that, in the next minute, did bill baroni ask for feedback specifically from trenton whereupon david wildstein passed on the rave reviews apparently from the governor's staff about how well bill baroni did covering the false cover story about the traffic studty. the traffic study that was supposedly developed by the port authority police. the all was fine report from the port authority police, that was the first feedback that bill baroni got on the cover story. port authority p

questions have been raised by who prepared mr. baroni to appear before the committee. and the portrait that emerges shows a shrewd politician who creatively used his legal and political power to forge key alliances while carefully shaping his image. i'm joined by paul butler, a former federal prosecutor and bert ross, the former mayor of f ft. lee. thanks to you both for joining me. bert, i want to start with you and talk a little bit about christie, the prosecutor. i think one of the things we learned in this "new republic" piece is that he very wisely figured out to use carrots and sticks, if you will, in the negotiations on various cases he was working on. does that surprise you? >> well, it did come as a revelation. i, like a lot of people, thought he spoke with straight tongue. what we're finding is that he's a fraud. his entire image self-created was of a reform are and he's anything but. he looks more and more like a machine politician unfortunately. >> new jersey politics, let's be honest, has something of a reputation. you as being pretty tough and you yoursel

there was no traffic study and in fact it was a coaching job by mr. kwon of mr. baroni. and that's what they're looking at in terms of these subpoenas. that's what they're going after. >> well, you know, the cover-up is always worse than whatever it is they're trying to cover up. that's definitely what they think. that's why they're going for this. the other thing is when bill baroni testified, he really irked a lot of people. people thought he was playing a game with them. now they got the subpoena power. >> why does governor christie keep saying, at least as late as he has talked about it that there may have been a traffic stop that turned into a political punishment job, or there might have been a political punishment job that turned into a traffic study. give me a surmise. why would he keep backing up. >> beats the heck out of me. we were surprised when he said it could have been a traffic study. the port authority already said there is no traffic study. we can't figure out why he went back. although he has been off his game lately. he also said he didn't know anythi

mr. steppian and miss kelly continue to refuse, then they too honestly will be moving toward contempt charges just like david wildstein. in their case, it is an open question whether they will plead the fifth in order to refuse to testify and that's an important question, right? after what david wildstein did, is everyone going to sit there and plead the fifth? is everyone going to refuse to answer questions? when new jersey spotlight published this piece. rule prevents staff from testifying in bridge gate. senator robert gordon, who's chairman of the legislative oversight committee in new jersey. he announced he had been told by the christie administration, that the christie administration policy that no members of the governor's office are allowed to appear before legislative committees. senator gordon told the new jersey spotlight this is a christie administration policy? there was no such policy before this in previous administrations. now senator gordon wanted testimony from people w

mr. bobbert, who has been on this story since the beginning. i have to ask you, the standing up to msnbc thing, is that just new jersey? like is that -- are you guys used to getting attacked on the basis of your reporting, no matter who you report on? >> i'll say that i think tension between politicians and aggressive reporting organizations, news organizations is not uncommon. in this instance, i can speak for myself, we are representing readers in our coverage area, which were impacted by this, there's no partisan motivation, and i'd also point out that the republicans voted for this legislative committee to investigate this matter. chris christie has someone who's conducting an internal review, it seems like on both sides of the aisle, there's acknowledgement that there are unanswered questions, i think the media is perfectly within its right to pursue this. >> calling a partisan witch hunt when it's every republican in the assembly voted to proceed with the investigation. it's hilario

before the new jersey state legislature. >> who told them to put the cones snout. >> on september 5, mr. wildstein requested a one-week study be conducted. and then that began -- it was conducted the following week and that began that monday morning. and the bridge folks and the port authority police department began putting the cones out. and as opposed to creating a three-lane special lane for ft. lee, it was a one-lane special lane. >> joining me now from "the bergen record" is the reporter who broke the story that there was messages linking the christie administration and the port authority's close shurt of the lanes at the norj washington bridge. it is amazing to see where this story has unravelled since those e-mails. here chris christie was, don't want to do any investigation inside the office. people will think that's witness tampering. now he's hired a team to do what he said he didn't want to do, parentally not worried about people thinking this might be trying to intimidate witnesses as "the new york times" report suggested. >> the question is what is the real intent of the i

baroni for that testimony. contact with mr. baroni ahead of the testimony, the governor's office more broadly and a huge, long list of people in the port authority and the governor's office including, like, assistants and people who don't have high-level jobs. does seem like a very wide net they're casting for this information, doesn't it? >> it does. you know, it struck me there were names on there from the governor's administration i didn't know and i've covered him for four years. that tells you they're getting down deep into this. you know, it goes back to that basically to that text from baroni, if you remember, he texted david wildstein to say what was the response from the administration on his testimony? and wildstein typed back, you know, they were happy and he threw out a couple of names. i think that's where they're zeroing in is baroni was specifically asking, hey, what did they think of what i just did? he was told they loved it. i think that's probably what sparked this interest in, you know, who in the administra

baroni for that testimony. can you give us insight into who phil kwon is and how he connects back to governor christie? >> he was a former nominee to the supreme court. he was not approved for that position and then appointed by christie to a position as an attorney in the legal department of the port authority. this is a legal department that has several attorneys. it's a large legal staff. phil kwon and at least one other attorney was recommended for jobs at the port authority. so these are people who moved from the christie administration to the legal department within the port authority. >> and then once in the legal department for whatever reason were tasked with prepping mr. baroni for his false testimony about the traffic study. you see why this story makes me so crazy. let me just ask you one last question, shawn, in terms of what happens -- what happens next. and what happens with governor christie as he's trying to govern the state while also managing this fallout. the timeline about the governor's in

>> on september 5, mr. wildstein requested a one-week study be conducted. and then that began -- b conducted the following week and that began that monday morning. and the bridge folks and the port authority police department began putting the cones out. and as opposed to creating a three-lane special lane for ft. lee, it was a one lane special lane. >> bill baroni was not under oath during that testimony, but the next time he testifies about the george washington bridge, he will be. joining me now is the author of "empire on the hudson" a book about the history of the port authority. he's a visiting professor from dartmouth college. and martin robbins, a former port authority official and now with rutgers university. professor, how far have we come from the creators' vision of what the port authority should be to what we find the port authority to be now in this age of -- this period now of very clear scandal of the port authority. >> until five or six years ago, many of the themes that you identified, that is nonpolitical administration, keeping patronage