right now bridget kelly may be the only person who knows the answer. joining me now is the daily beast's michelle cotto. thanks for coming on the show tonight. >> thanks, reverend. >> michelle, what do you make of the reporting that bridget kelly was not a rogue operator? >> well, look. when you are a trusted staffer in a situation like this, part of your job is to protect the principal and even if there is no proof or any indication that christie himself was involved in this particular episode, there is the question of the kind of climate that he created in his office that led her and stepien to think that this was an appropriate course of action. and he has really not addressed those questions that well. i mean, the governor has kind of ducked and weaved about how he needs to do a little bit of soul-searching. but i think that's going to come back again. because i think if she is following the chain of command, i think spep ytepien is going t next person who we'll all be grilling, and after that christie is going to answer more questions about the cl

he was bridget kelly's boss. and he's one of just two aides who last month interviewed staff about who knew what before reporting back to christie. christie says o'dowd assured him no aides were involved. but here is the twist. just last month, christie nominated kevin o'dowd to be the state's new attorney general, the top law enforcer and top law officer in the state of new jersey. o'dowd is due to go before the senate judiciary this tuesday. so bridget kelly's boss could be in charge of this investigation. sound like a conflict of interest? not to governor christie. >> do you think this could have an impact you should put on hold kevin o'dowd's nomination to being the attorney general since he was chief of staff and would probably be involved in setting the tone? >> absolutely not. kevin's confirmation hearing will go forward on tuesday. and i expect, you know, he'll be vigorously question like any candidate for attorney general should be. and i suspect that he'll get swift and certain confirmation because he d

when bridget anne kelly -- >> don't you love the name bridget? old school. >> for traffic problems in ft. lee. steve said it strains cred creditdulity that the governor wouldn't know about it. >> or she could speak that the bridge commission would say sure, babe, sure. just call me up, i'm going to stop the bridge traffic for four days because you call me up without ever calling back the chief of staff or the guy's counsel counsel. this really what chris wants me to do? because this may be against the law. >> chris, here is the thing. she sent that at 7:34 a.m. she got a response back at 7:35 a.m. there was no phone call. >> so you think it was a cue, that they had set up ahead of time? >> i said on your program about a month and a half ago that let's just wait to see what the governor knew and when he knew it. and right now today i think this press conference opens up the door for more questions. and it really was i think short term. it gives him some room, not a lot. because you've got folks pleading the fifth. you've got folks still possibly r

by 9:00 this morning, bridget kelly was fired. by 7:00 yesterday evening, bill stepien was asked to leave my organization. that's pretty swift action for a day's work. >> what is swift about that? if he found out what bridget kelly at 8:50 yesterday morning. why wasn't she fired at 8:51 yesterday morning. he said he didn't have to talk to bridget kelly to decide to fire her. he just had to read the e-mail. they never got the full story out of the christie about what he had actually been doing for the last mysterious 24 hours, except feeling sorry for himself. in the press conference, chris christie did something that he would tell you is a classic indicator that a witness is not telling the truth. he changed his story. but reporters didn't seem to notice. here is version one. >> i brought my senior staff together i think about four weeks ago tomorrow and i put to all of them one simple challenge. if there is any information that you know is about the decision to close these lanes in ft. lee, you have one hour to tell either my chi

that was from a woman named bridget anne kelly. the governor at the press conference said he never spoke with miss kelly after that e-mail surfaced. do you intend to subpoena bridget kelly to get answers to the questions. >> we intend to subpoena bridget kelly. i want to point out, rachel. there's a pattern here. when pat foy came and said this was all david wildstein's idea, he did this, it was his plan and we asked the question, well, of course you spoke with him, didn't you? no, of course not. now the governor, well this was all bridget kelly's idea. you spoke to her, no? of course not. and so it seems like the plan is let's just fire the people or terminate them or have them resign and not ask any questions which doesn't seem to meet the expectation the governor created today that he really wants to get to the bottom of it. he wants to sweep it under the rug by making people disappear. >> some long-term observers of new jersey politics have suggested recently that it may at least until yesterday have been the governor's strateg

certainly bridget kelly is now one. fingered by the governor directly, called a liar four different ways in one big press conference, she is the bad one. she is the betrayer. she is the liar. phrases that are amazing you call into question about a person that has been working with him. we have lots of pictures showing them working hand in glove. she has the clipboard. she has the phone. she is taking him around. all of the sudden he doesn't talk to her, doesn't call her up. just announced she is a louse on television, not to be trusted, not to be believed. somebody said the other day what he is doing is to set her up as a liar on the witness stand. he assumes she is going to come out against him. better to lace her first before she gets in the chair. these are strong words. he would have said she could have come forward. he could have called her in the office and said why didn't you tell me you were involved in all this? besides from all that, there is time from traffic problems in ft. lee, that wasn't the beginning of

lee" e-mail came out from bridget kelly. he seems to suggest he has some knowledge of that. >> and this came from wildstein's document. >> right. >> which is suggestive of more which really makes the assembly even digs deeper into these meetings and -- >> all the questions that have been raised in the last week and a lot of the subpoenas that are now flying around are the result of little hints that were left in wildstein's, in what came out from wildstein. now, let's see, if you have two dozen subpoenas throughout, and they get answered and they get answered in the detail that wildstein provided, maybe that answers this thing in a way that you don't have to give anybody immunity. but if these people are as loyal to chris christie as bridget kelly is indicating she is going to be, maybe you need somebody like david wildstein who is willing to talk, willing to provide answer. and that might be what they're looking for. >> do you think that wildstein, who you said on that tape i played, thinks two or three steps ahead, has alr

but it's not just bridget kelly who says it, chris christie's deputy chief of staff. it's not just her who high fives bill baroni, it's also nicole, who, reasonably speaking, given the subpoenas today, may turn out to be nicole who is governor christie's campaign chief on his re-election effort. she is the person who got subpoenaed today. her name is nicole. if the crime here was con siling an abuse of government power, that appears to have happened in that testimony that day, before the new jersey legislature. all that false testimony from bill baroni. that was back in november. the documents we have so far indicate that not just governor christie's office in the form of bridget kelly, applauded and said, oh, we're really happy with that false testimony. even though bridget kelly was in a position to know it was false testimony while she was applauding, but now we also know that a person who appears to be a staffer from the governor's re-election campaign, nicole, said the same thing. good job! you good great. and maybe she did not know it was false testimony when sh

here they are, bridget ann kelly who was fired by the stephon. bill stepian. port authority chairman david samson. bill barone, the former deputy director of the port authority appointed by chris christie. david wildstein. kevin o'dowd. regina agea, christie's chief of staff, maria comella, christina geneves. and evan ridley, another christie aide. philippe danielides. christina lado, the port authority's director of government and community affairs of new jersey and paul nunziata. also nicolle davidman, colin reed, press secretary and christie for governor incorporated. and the office of the governor itself. let me go to assembly leader louis greenwald. give us a sense of what this widespread of subpoenas tells you about the nature of the investigation now being undertaken. >> well, chris, we've cast this net based upon the advice of counsel from the original e-mails that were turned over and a scan of those e-mails and an investigative review to see where the points of connection were. these subpoenas are discovery tool. they are nothing more than that. they

bridget ann kelly. christie's deputy chief of staff who was fired by the governor. bill steppian who was christie's campaign manager. port authority chairman david sam san. bill baroni the former deputy director of the port authority appointed by christie. david wildstein. appointee at the port authority. kevin o'dowd. his appointee to become new jersey attorney general. regina agea, christie's chief of staff, maria comella, christina geneves. christie aide. matt mowers christie's former regional political director, and evan ridley, another christie aide. philippe danielides. senior adviser to the port authority's chairman david sam san. christina lado, the port authority's director of government and community affairs for new jersey and paul anaunz at-to. also nicole davidman who worked on funding. colin reed who was the deputy press secretary and christie for governor incorporated and the office of the governor itself. let me go to assembly leader louis greenwald. sir, thank you. give us a sense of what this widespread of subpoenas tells you about the nature of the

two fired officials are reportedly being served, former deputy chief of staff bridget kelly, who sent the notorious e-mail "time for some traffic problems in ft. lee", and former campaign manager bill stepien. all that's on the assembly side. we're also getting late-breaking word of subpoenas from the state senate, including two high-ranking officials, david samson, the chairman of the agency that runs the george washington bridge will be served. he is a very close ally of governor christie's, and he has come under intense scrutiny in recent days. also being served regina egea, governor christie's incoming chief of staff, and someone whose name appeared in documentress leased last week. of note, early this morning we learned the christie administration hired legal counsel in the name of assisting the investigation. and today a fast-moving development is clear the states are rapidly increasing. who else will be subpoenaed? will we get some answers soon? joining me live from outside the new jersey state house is assemblyman gordon johnson, who is on the special investigation committee,

. >> former deputy chief of staff bridget kelly. >> deputy chief of staff bridget kelly gave the order. >> let's call it an ill-advised decision. >> pof these lanes closed. >> we also don't really know why it happened. >> why did she order these lanes closed? >> the biggest unanswered question is how much christie knew. >> the assembly has the ability to do articles of wim paecht. >> john wisniewski's mentioned the i word there. >> we're way ahead of that. >> not one single link to chris christie has been found. >> but it gets to a culture in his office. >> if there is a culture -- >> that is problematic. >> in terms of what the republican leaders are doing. >> we have these two competing narratives. >> strategies ranging from silence -- >> we should reserve judgment. >> -- to overt criticism. zplt people you hire are the policies that are implemented. >> ouch. >> personnel is policy. >> people are now doubting his relationships. >> last week's obsessive scrutiny of the george washington bridge scandal was at the beginning of the end. >> this will take a while. >> this could be another

we asked bridget kelly. she told us she didn't have any. we asked her if she was involved, she said she was not. we asked her if she had any knowledge of it, she said she didn't. that's why i was surprised. i'm surprised because i was told there was nothing there. and then there was. i mean, you know, this is not -- in that sense it's not a mystery. if you ask for something and someone deceives you and tells you it doesn't exist, what's the follow-up? are you sure? yes. you searched your e-mails? yes. you don't have anything? no. okay. were you involved in any way? no. any knowledge? no. after that, what do you do? [ inaudible question ] >> you'd have to ask them. i don't know. i don't think so. i don't think so. no. yeah, i know. listen, i know you guys would love that if i actually did. i told you i'm not to that stage yet. i'm sure i might get to the stage where i'm angry. i don't break things. oh, gosh, no. you need to understand this. i am standing here resolved to do my job and do what i'm supposed to do. but i am a very sad person to

way. >> i cannot reconcile the bridget kelly i knew from those days with the bridget kelly of -- >> of time for traffic in ft. lee. >> joining me, david chen, investigative political reporter and former trenton bureau chief for "the new york times," the author of the piece on bridget anne kelly that ran in the "times" today. i want to read this tweet from a conservative reporter. he says "with subpoena on the way, bridget kelly uses "new york times" to send indirect message of loyalty to christie." bridget anne kelly's people were telling chris christie, i'm still with you? >> to a degree, we're always used in some way. >> that's refreshingly honest. >> what we tried to do in this piece was really peel back some of the layers behind this very mysterious woman, if you will, someone who wasn't very well known to most people outside of a very small circle. steve kornacki, of course, knew her. he knows everybody. other people in trenton who worked there, myself included, did not really know her or really cross paths with her. so, you know, she remains a person of great intrigue. >> so y

that's an e-mail between bridget kelly the deputy chief of staff and yourself? >> same answer. >> and that says it's time for traffic problems in fort lee? >> same answer, sir. >> you respondeded to that e-mail? >> same answer, sir. >> okay, then moving forward, there is on page -- page 753 -- sorry. i'm sorry. i strike that. 757. >> i'm not sure that one is marked, sir, 757. -- 751. followed by 774. >> we apologize for the inconvenience. we'll help you locate that. no problem. >> managing editor of post politics.com, mark halperin, senior analyst for msnbc and "time" and steve kornacki, host of "up" and steve i was fascinated by your description on "morning joe" how your first news job out of school was working and didn't know you were working for david wildstein because he was running a blog that had an anonymous handle. explain and tell me about your reactions to all of this? >> yeah, i don't even know how to describe my reaction watching that scene right there. david wildstein was my boss for three years from 2002 to 2005. he ran a anonymously owned politica

it's to bridget kelly who ordered the bridge shutdown. it's from christina renna who worked in the governor's office. the evan who was referenced in the e-mail we think is probably evan jay ridley who also worked in the governor's office. nobody seems to know what his exact job title is other than aide to the governor. worked in the governor's office as an aide and gets paid $52,000 a year. other than that, we know he works in the governor's office. all of them do. three people who work in the office are e-mailing about the ongoing bridge lane shutdown and the disaster it's causing and the allegation it's politically motivated. no discussion whatsoever about there being some traffic study which the governor says was the prevailing belief about what was happening with that bridge. going on in his office. >> that's wrr characterization, not mine. but there's nobody on my staff who had any knowledge of this issue until after the issue was already done. >> that is not true. here's the other part of this that makes no sense. against the govern

with the bridget kelly -- >> time for traffic in ft. lee? >> beyond that, there's commissioners at the port authority nominated by the governor and put in place by the senate. confirmed by the senate. these people didn't tell the governor that weinberg and i attended the meetings, complaining about the traffic issues in ft. lee, about these stoppages? >> no one told him. i mean -- >> november 13th, we're there. december 4th, we're there. loretta weinberg and i attended these meetings. complaining to them about this traffic -- this traffic tie-up, this traffic chaos in ft. lee, why did it exist? one of these folks picked up the phone and called the governor's office and said, hey, we had some legislators here. i just don't get it. >> do you think it is, knowing a bit about the players involved, is it plausible to you that no one's communicating this to christie at any point? >> in a way, it is, and in a way it speaks to the culture that's sort of created around this add administration. this administration, christie administration, relati

when bridget anne kelly lyled to him. that was it, he didn't need to look to the underlying conduct. what happened what happened and why they would have done this presumably on his behalf on to his benefit? >> matt katz, the underlying conduct, that's the issue that i keep coming back to because was it a one off? it seemed as though from the e-mail exchange when bridget anne kelly e-mails about it's time for a traffic jam in ft. lee and david wildstein says got it. it's almost automatic, they are having a conversation which seems to be -- >> as p it were part of a playbook. >> we picked it up in the middle of the conversation it seemed in those documents, but what it might indicate is the perception of the governor might be true and that perception is that they -- there's a subtle understanding that rolls down from the top that -- enemies are taken care of so to speak. that's the perception christie is trying to beat. he's having a problem about that because others are now coming forward saying that the governor has gone

you are bridget kelly. then what? >> then i'm looking for a way to restore my now itch peopled -- impeached character and correct. >> so go after him. >> yes. >> might he rule the day? >> i think that's a risk, but the problem is, what else is he going to do? i think this really his only move. he has to distance himself from the problem and point a finger at somebody and do it in a way that is unequivocal. >> she is now emboldened to point fingers to involve more people. you humiliated me on national tv. >> always a temptation for someone who is blamed, but i have to think in this situation, if i'm bridget kelly, i'm not going against chris christie, he's the governor, very popular, probably going to run for governor. >> you're feeding the argument he is a bully. >> according to him, he is not a bully. >> what do you think happens? legally, those who have been attacked and the port authority official was forced out, these are people whose names are going to become common and familiar, those who follow this, and they'r

bridget kelly. time for traffic problems in ft. lee. is bridget -- will bridget kelly testify? if she does, will she take the fifth amendment? those are big questions that are sort of beyond christie's ability to influence at this point. and for him to get beyond this, people are going to want to see beyond those questions. and hear the accounts from bridget kelly, david stepien and bills wou bill. >> i want to bring up a recent pew poll that came out just four days after the scandal. but it gave you a sense of how people were affected, at least in the beginning stages. it shows 60%, really, their opinion did not change of governor chris christie. it made me wonder two things, either they just don't care. or this sort of behavior is essentially expected from the governor of new jersey. how do you read that? >> well, i don't think the impacts that we'll see on public opinion nationally are the importants ones that we'll see today. what will happen this will be on the image of chris christie. in a gen

if you don't believe there's anything i don't think bridget kelly, i knew bridget kelly. i worked with her. she worked for a republican assembly person who had a great deal of respect for her. i have a great deal of respect for bridget. would she put on an e-mail perhaps was not the best thing to do, but if you think that she is the engineer of all of this mess, i cannot believe that. he appointed every one of these individuals. so the question is not, what did he know, when did he know it? that's insignificant. the question is what really happened. and more than an apology, the ft. lee residents deserve a lot more than just an apology. while we're paying higher tolls on the george washington bridge, folks at the port authority many of them are frolicking. and that's a bigger picture, which this governor did not stop nor the governor of new york. >> he's going to be going to your district later today, he says, even if he's not going to be meeting with the mayor of ft. lee he's going to be meeting with residents there. we'll see how that goes. >> yes. >> congressman, thank

he puts out the word that bridget kelly is a liar, says it over and over again. so you guys aren't supposed to believe her. so he is obviously afraid of what she is going to say, right? and somebody in his office went around saying everybody starting in september, don't tell the governor to his face what is going on here. who is the ring lead they're cauterized and shielded him if that's what happened from any involvement in any conversation with anybody about the closing down of the major traffic artery into new york city? >> there are so many people that we know that are close to the governor, that are involved, that have already been named, that that's why it's so important that we continue this investigation, beginning on thursday with a new special committee. >> well, do you think -- >> because we simply don't know. >> are you going to immunize some people? are you going to give immunity to people? can you legally let a woman like, for example, if i were bridget kelly, i would be thinking these people out there have had problems with traffic there is hospita

kelly, because bridget kelly is the one he really singled out yesterday. he called her a liar five or ten times during that press conference. i think the logical conclusion you draw from watching chris christie doing that yesterday, this is a guy who is confident there is nothing that is going to come out that is going to contradict him. there is no further documentation that is going to come out. >> meaning he never talked to her in the office all these months about this trouble, he never -- >> well, there is -- >> my point, he probably didn't. he made a point of never winking in her direction, take care, you'll get through this. any sign of collaboration. >> that is one theory, and that is entirely plausible. however, there is a history with this governor. just three years ago in this state when he was the governor, he fired his education commissioner, and he held a press conference which is very similar to the one he held yesterday. the education commissioner's name was bret schundler. he screwed up the state's race to the top 57ly indication. chris chr

that's the way the ema ill to bridget kelly starts essentially saying, hey, don't be mad, right? i'm sorry to have to tell you evan took a call from mayor you no who. then the closing line of the e-mail is this evan told the fine mayor he was unaware of the toll lanes closed. he would find out. undoubtedly, mayor sokolich is a fine mayor. fine. why the smirk? why the fine mayor snark here? why the implicit apology for having taken his call? evan didn't recognize the number. the number was a secretary's number, implicitly, otherwise, he would have known not to take the call. in closing, this backhanded fine mayor like ah this jerk complaining about the first responders not being able to get to people having heart attacks. the governor's staff were discussing the shutdown and the mayor of ft. lee in provocative terms while the shutdown was still happening. despite governor christie's denials, it seems like something was going on between the governor's office and that specific mayor, that specific man and lots of people who work wage for governor christie and who work in the governo

it is no the a bridget kelly, a deputy chief of staff. this is a guy you have to tread lightly around. this is a hugely respected guy in new jersey politics. this is not a shady guy by all accounts. this is a guy who for years has been respected by both sides of the aisle. you don't just drag him into this lightly and from his side, i have to think, he wants nothing to do with this. he has a very, very prominent law firm in the state of new jersey. to even be mentioned in this thing has got to be killing him. >> finally, we had some news that one of the committees has hired former u.s. prosecutor, who is wa the person that prosecuted rod blagojevich to be their chief investigator. like you said, there is kind of a race right now about who is going to get to what fast. the best thing to happen, for christie, is the fact that an u.s. attorney investigation he can cooperate that isn't in the papers every day. he can say, i'm cooperating and try to snuff this out. the worse case is, if they get more subpoenas, we get more documents and there

the other big story today, bridget kelly, of course. the christie deputy chief of staff who gave the order to block the bridge traffic is swapping lawyers from a christie ally to a hard-charging defense attorney. she has hired michael critchley when he broke a string of corruption convictions, replacing kelly's old council walter timpone who stepped aside citing conflict. he was a christie appointee. steve, how do you read this? she is upgrading and going to the mattresses here with a really big-time lawyer who knows how to beat a civil abuse case in new jersey. she knows local. and she knows what might work local. and she is no longer trusting somebody who has associations, as she has had, with christie. >> there is two interesting things. if you talk to people in trenton about this, they find it to be a very curious development. the first back of context to keep in mind is about a week ago, the "new york times" ran a story where they talked to a few of bridget kelly's friends who made it clear seemingly on her behalf that she was mort

so he's now said, look, bridget kelly lied to me, out of my administration. i haven't talked to her. he's insinuating that the close political al lie lied to him. what's going to play out there, there's the potential for anybody else caught up in this any kind of documentation that could show chris christie had any knowledge of this, he's really screwed. >> we were talking as chris christie was going on about something very important in terms of timing when the revelations came out and this coming out at this time played into this whole thing. the legislature had a time line? >> this is sort of a one way of looking at this. we tend to look at this as a binary thing, either he knew or was completely duped. we find it hard to believe he was duped. there could potentially be a middle ground here where this -- the counter lines up with willful ignorance on christie's part. a while ago he figured out the basics i could see this wasn't a traffic study and this is bad news if we go down this path, but here's the key, legislative elections in november. the new legisl

he was saying yesterday, i don't want to talk to bridget kelly. shouldn't he ask her and try to figure out if other employees of his might be lying to him? >> where does the buck stop, because when you look at what the first e-mail is, this is a mid point conversation. this is not, hey, you know, i was thinking, maybe we should try to close down the george washington bridge. this was mid point in some string of either conversations, e-mails, texts, whatever. >> i see two plausible scenarios here, what chris christie painted yesterday, i was completely in the dark and blindsided about this until wednesday morning i think is completely implausible. i think the two plausible situations are, one, he knew this at an early stage, at the beginning, he had knowledge of the specifics of this. i think that's possible and we'll see if it comes out. that's not been proven, but it's possible. the other plausible scenario is he had willful ignorance. there was so much reporting, so much suspicion, everyone in new jersey politics talking about this for months, t

bridget anne kelly, christie's deputy chief of staff who was fired by the governor. bill stepien, who was christie's campaign manager. charles mcken narcotics christie's chief counsel. port authority chairman david samson. bill baroni, the former deputy director of the port authority appointed by christie. david wildstein a new jersey political appointee at the port authority. kevin o'dowd, his chief of staff and appointee to become new jersey attorney general. regina egea, christie's designated new chief of staff. and mikeful drewniak, press secretary. maria kanell. for his reelection campaign, and evan ridley, another christie aid. phillipe danielides. christina lado. and paul nunziato, the port authority police yoon authority. also nicole davidman who worked on fundraising for the christie cam mean. colin reed, and the entity christie for governor incorporated. and the office of the governor itself. let me go to assembly leader lewis greenwald, sir. give us a sense of what you think the widespread of subpoenas tells about the nature of the investigation now being

if bridget kelly put into an e-mail, time for traffic problems in ft. lee, that a subpoena production of documents from her e-mail account, it's just a little hard for me to think there is not something. >> if are you in the governor's office, you haven't talked about other names here, regina gia, she was forwarded last september that pat memo that said you are breaking state and federal laws here. she is a part of this documents from bill beroni's subpoena records, if you subpoena her records, what will you turn up? >> she's the incoming chief of staff. she's not someone on the periphery. >> so close to christie. charles mckenna, his chief council, what do you turn up? how many new names show up? when these subpoenas start flying, the "x factor" in all this, however, i say is the u.s. attorney. >> yes. >> the u.s. attorney steps in and decides this is a case i'm going to take on. it has the potential to quiet down and shut down water happening this trenton. it raises the question, this was suggested by david wildstein's attorney last week when he appea

the wild card in this as you say is bridget kelly. her strategy has shifted dramatically in the last week. her first lawyer was very close to chris christie and chris christie world. after a week of representing bridget kelly, he decided he was off the case. she's no longer represented by him. she's represented by one of the top defense attorneys in new jersey now. originally it was about let's see if we can protect ourself without doing anymore damage to chris christie. now it is a "i want to save myself" move. >> a larger point people should keep in mind is the wheels of justice grind slowly. what today indicates is that this story is not going away, not for a long time. once it gets enmeshed in this legal machinery, it will dog chris christie for many months to come. >> this will force the hand of others involved in this legally. according to "the new york times," david wildstein is saying governor christie knew about the lane closures and he can prove it. i want to play a clip of chris christie talking about wildstein in his janua

kelly, because bridget kelly is the one he really singled out yesterday. he called her a liar five or ten times during that press conference. i think the logical conclusion you draw from watching chris christie doing that yesterday, this is a guy who is confident there is nothing that is going to come out that is going to contradict him. there is no further documentation that is going to come out. >> meaning he never talked to her in the office all these months about this trouble, he never -- >> well, there is -- >> my point, he probably didn't. he made a point of never winking in her direction, take care, you'll get through this. any sign of collaboration. >> that is one theory, and that is entirely plausible. however, there is a history with this governor. just three years ago in this state when he was the governor, he fired his education commissioner, and he held a press conference which is very similar to the one he held yesterday. the education commissioner's name was brett schundler. he screwed up the race to the top application. chris christie said

yes, her, bridget kelly. chris christie's deputy chief of staff. the one who before the end of the summer would be ordering up traffic armageddon for the little town of ft. lee. well, this e-mail from june 20th is from mayor fulop's office to bridget kelly. "hi, bridget, great connecting with you this morning. i thought i had my hands full with three kids. impressed that you have four. i spoke with steven" meaning the mayor "about your mayor day program and i think it's a great idea." e-mail continues "there are so many complexities with local and state governments that a seamless transition can only benefit everyone. again, bridget, thank you for the conversation and the support." that e-mail goes out from mayor fulop's office on a thursday night, about 9:30 on a thursday night. within 25 minutes, bridget kelly and chris christie's office has written back already, c.c.ing the mayor directly, "thanks, veronica, i'm looking forward to working with you. congratulation, mayor-elect. we're looking forward to working closely with you and your administra

the person that still remains in question is bridget kelly. she was the most aligned in that press conference and who has gotten more publicly shamed in the wake of the ft. lee bridge closures. what are we to expect? if wildstein is operating with his own interests at heart, stepien has developed his own strategy for dealing with this, where does bridget kelly fit? >> the lawyer she originally went with was intimately close to chris christie world. friends were saying, she feels terrible about all of this because how bad this has been for chris christie. it created the impression she was not out to take him down, to come out with anything that was going to make his situation any worse. a week after that, there was an abrupt change. a different top defense attorney took her case. is there a competition of sorts that will take place between bridget kelly and david wildstein? let's make a deal. who can offer the most? the one thing i want to say quickly about david wildstein, i think he's the most strategic long-term thinker of any of the players