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NJ Gov, Chris Christie, knew about George Washington bridge closing, a month ahead of event – Former Dep Chief of Staff, Bridget Kelly, breaks down on the stand

&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpcnt">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"wpa">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<span class&equals;"wpa-about">Advertisements<&sol;span>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<div class&equals;"u top&lowbar;amp">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<amp-ad width&equals;"300" height&equals;"265"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; type&equals;"pubmine"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-siteid&equals;"109460728"&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab; data-section&equals;"1">&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;amp-ad>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div>&NewLine;&Tab;&Tab;<&sol;div><header id&equals;"ra-headers">&NewLine;<h6 class&equals;"ndn&lowbar;videoTitle"><span style&equals;"color&colon;&num;1a0202&semi;">Bridgegate defendant Bridget Kelly paints ex-boss Chris Christie as a growling&comma; menacing bully<&sol;span><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h6><span style&equals;"color&colon;&num;1a0202&semi;">Claims she was physically intimidated of her boss<&sol;span><br &sol;>&NewLine;<span style&equals;"color&colon;&num;1a0202&semi;"><br &sol;>&NewLine;Says Chris Christie threw a water bottle at her amid the GWB lane closures<&sol;span><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h6><span style&equals;"color&colon;&num;1a0202&semi;">Kelly claims bridge closing was idea from David Wildstein&comma; she informed Gov Christie and he was ok with the action<&sol;span><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h6><span style&equals;"color&colon;&num;1a0202&semi;">Said she was overwhelmed with her new job as a top Christie aide and frightened to incur his wrath<&sol;span><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h6><span style&equals;"color&colon;&num;1a0303&semi;">Put her infamous &&num;8220&semi;Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee&comma;&&num;8221&semi; email down to a poor choice of words<&sol;span> <img class&equals;"alignnone size-full wp-image-87121" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;10&sol;nj-gov-chris-christie3&period;jpg" alt&equals;"NJ Gov Chris Christie3&period;jpg" width&equals;"1200" height&equals;"799" &sol;><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<&sol;header>&NewLine;<div id&equals;"ra-body-wrap">&NewLine;<h6 class&equals;"ra-module overflown top"><strong>Chris Christie&comma; addressing the media in the wake of the George Washington Bridge scandal repeatedly denied having prior knowledge of the bridge closure<&sol;strong><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"ra-module overflown top">Bridget Anne Kelly the former deputy Cheif of Staff to New Jersey governor&comma;  Chris Christie&comma;  accused of creating a traffic nightmare on the George Washington Bridge broke down on the stand Friday as she described her boss as an intimidating and menacing character&period;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<article id&equals;"ra-body">Prosecutors say Bridget Kelly&comma; along with co-defendant Bill Baroni&comma; helped planned the scheme to punish the mayor of Fort Lee&comma; Mark Sokolich &comma; a democrat who refused to endorse Gov Christie&&num;8217&semi;s re-election bid&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Kelly who all along refused to testify in the case was taking the stand for the first time&period; However&comma; in the wake of the prosecution&&num;8217&semi;s star witness&comma; f<strong>ormer <&sol;strong>Port Authority official David Wildstein&comma; pleading not guilty to masterminding the plot and testifying against the former Christie allies&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;<strong><img class&equals;"alignnone size-full wp-image-87123" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;10&sol;david-wildstein1&period;jpg" alt&equals;"David Wildstein1&period;jpg" width&equals;"1200" height&equals;"800" &sol;><&sol;strong><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h6><strong>Prosecution star witness&comma; former Port Authority official David Wildstein&comma; who pled guilty to masterminding the plot&period; He has testified against the former Christie allies&comma; but they say it was all about him<&sol;strong><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<&sol;article>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<div id&equals;"ra-body-wrap">&NewLine;<article id&equals;"ra-body">Kelly took the stand for the first time&period; She s had no reason to doubt that the lane closures were initiated as part a traffic study planned by Wildstein&comma; she said&period; In Aug&period; 2013&comma; at the behest of Wildstein&comma; Kelly said she told Christie about the planned study and warned him that it was likely to cause congestion in Fort Lee&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The statement was in sharp contrast to Christie&&num;8217&semi;s repeated denied that he had any knowledge or involvement in the lane closures&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;He didn&&num;8217&semi;t really react&comma;&&num;8221&semi; Kelly claimed&period; &&num;8220&semi;He said that&&num;8217&semi;s fine&period;&&num;8221&semi;<br &sol;>&NewLine;But Christie did ask about the administration&&num;8217&semi;s &&num;8220&semi;relationship&&num;8221&semi; with Sokolich&period;&comma; Kelly said&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;I didn&&num;8217&semi;t know&comma;&&num;8221&semi; Kelly testified&period; &&num;8220&semi;I really didn&&num;8217&semi;t know&period;&&num;8221&semi;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Throughout her testimony&comma; Kelly portrayed herself as a political scapegoat&period; In the lead-up to the lane closures&comma; she said&comma; she was overwhelmed with her new job as a top Christie aide and frightened to incur his wrath&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Highlighting her low position in the Christie inner caucus&comma; kelly said she had a great sense of  inmidation in the presence of her former boss&comma;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Kelly said she was discussing the program for a press conference related to a fire in the Jersey Shore town of Seaside Heights when Christie exploded at her three years ago&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;He had a water bottle in his hand and he said&comma; &&num;8216&semi;What the f&&num;8211&semi;k do you think I am&quest; A f&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8211&semi;g game show host&comma;&&num;8221&semi; Kelly said&comma; her voice cracking&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The governor then hurled the bottle at her&comma; Kelly testified&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;I moved out of the way and it hit my arm&comma;&&num;8221&semi; the sobbing mother of four added&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;You&&num;8217&semi;re afraid of the governor&quest;&&num;8221&semi; defense lawyer Michael Critchley asked her&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;Yes&comma; yes&comma;&&num;8221&semi; she replied&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The temper eruption took place in Sept&period; 2013 as the politically-motivated lane closures were underway&period; The bridge scandal blew up four months later after a now-infamous email sent by Kelly was made public&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee&comma;&&num;8221&semi; it read&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The bottle-throwing incident wasn&&num;8217&semi;t the only time Kelly was the target of Christie&&num;8217&semi;s vitriol&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;She testified that Christie erupted after he asked her if she had followed through in canceling meetings with Jersey City Mayor Steve Fulop&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<div class&equals;"ra-module h">&NewLine;<figure class&equals;"ra-figure"><figcaption>&NewLine;<h2 class&equals;"ra-caption"><img class&equals;"alignnone size-full wp-image-87132" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;10&sol;bridget-anne-kelly4&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Bridget Anne Kelly4&period;jpg" width&equals;"768" height&equals;"512" &sol;><&sol;h2>&NewLine;<h6 class&equals;"ra-caption">Bridget Anne Kelly&comma; former deputy chief of staff to Gov&period; Chris Christie&comma; arrived with her lawyer&comma; Michael Critchley&comma; in Federal District Court in Newark&comma;  Friday<&sol;h6>&NewLine;<h6 class&equals;"ra-caption"><img class&equals;"alignnone size-full wp-image-87146" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;10&sol;bridget-anne-kelly5&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Bridget Anne Kelly5&period;jpg" width&equals;"800" height&equals;"533" &sol;>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;He had a water bottle in his hand and he said&comma; &OpenCurlyQuote;What the f&&num;8211&semi;k do you think I am&quest; A f&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8211&semi;g game show host&comma;” Kelly said of Christie&comma; her voice cracking&period;<&sol;h6>&NewLine;<&sol;figcaption><&sol;figure>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;<p>&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;I said&comma; &OpenCurlyQuote;Yes&comma; governor&comma;’” Kelly said&comma; breaking down once again&period; &&num;8220&semi;He said no one&&num;8217&semi;s entitled to a f&&num;8212&semi;&&num;8211&semi;g meeting&period;&&num;8221&semi;<br &sol;>&NewLine;The portrait dovetailed an earlier testimony at the trial by Kelly’s former subordinate Christina Renna&period; It was revealed that Christie was incensed when a picture of a box of the sweet treats resembling Krispy Kremes that said &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Christie Creme” on it went public&comma; Kelly’s Testified earlier this month&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;An intern in Christie’s office made the doughnuts in June 2013 as part of team-building bakeoff exercise orchestrated by Kelly&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;<img class&equals;"alignnone wp-image-87148" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;konniemoments&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2016&sol;10&sol;chris-christie-aides-disrobing-him-at-gwb&period;jpg" alt&equals;"Chris Christie aides disrobing him at GWB&period;jpg" width&equals;"607" height&equals;"592" &sol;><&sol;p>&NewLine;<h6><strong>Chris Christie aides disrobing him at GWB&period; Bridget Anne Kelly said she was discussing a press conference related to a fire in the Jersey Shore town of Seaside Heights when Christie exploded at her three years ago&period;<&sol;strong><&sol;h6>&NewLine;<p class&equals;"story-body-text story-content">Kelly said David Wildstein had told her on the phone on Aug&period; 12 that he had obtained the approvals for the &&num;8216&semi;Traffic study&&num;8217&semi;&period; He told her that he had run the idea past Bill Stepien&comma; the governor’s campaign manager&comma; and asked her to run it past the governor&period; And&comma; she said&comma; he put a cherry on top&colon; Once the study was complete&comma; they would hold a celebratory event at the bridge&comma; where the governor&comma; then in the thick of his re-election campaign&comma; would be able to trumpet how he had eased traffic across the world’s busiest bridge&comma; a bane of commuters&period; There would be banners saying&comma; &OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;Thanks&comma; Governor Christie&period;”<br &sol;>&NewLine;&OpenCurlyDoubleQuote;It was a little crazy&comma; but this is what he wanted to do&comma; to tout the success of what he believed was going to be a very successful study&comma;” she said&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;She said she ran the traffic study by the governor&comma; later that day&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;I really saw it as I was giving him an fyi&comma; and if he was not okay with it&comma; he would have said&comma; &&num;8216&semi;No&comma; don&&num;8217&semi;t do it&comma;&&num;8221&semi; Kelly said&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;In her testimony&comma; Kelly said she discussed the traffic Study  later that day with Christie who gave no hint that the lane closures were improper&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;The governor said the Port Authority was handling it and that David had been in touch with Fort Lee&comma; which is exactly what David had told me&comma;&&num;8221&semi; Kelly testified&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Expressing her regret over the wording of the infamous email that blew open the scandal&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Kelly said she sent the letter to Wildstein immediately after she got the greenlight from Christie on Aug&period; 12&period;<br &sol;>&NewLine;&&num;8220&semi;I sent an email parroting exactly what David Wildstein told me&comma;&&num;8221&semi; Kelly said&period; &&num;8220&semi;Traffic problems were two words that went together when you talked to David about the Port Authority&period;&&num;8221&semi;<br &sol;>&NewLine;Prompted by her attorney&comma; Michael Critchley&colon; &&num;8220&semi;Poor choice of words&quest;&&num;8221&semi; Kelly reponded &&num;8220&semi;Very&period;”<&sol;p>&NewLine;<&sol;article>&NewLine;<&sol;div>&NewLine;

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