Bridgegate: No Criminal Misconduct Charges Against Chris Christie
Christie said to be “gratified”
It doesn’t seem that long ago that Chris Christie was a serious contender for the presidency, and here we are, four or five years later, and he’s counting his lucky stars that the prosecutor decided against filing criminal misconduct charges against him regarding Bridgegate.
New Jersey prosecutors on Friday said they would not pursue criminal misconduct charges against Governor Chris Christie in connection with the “Bridgegate” scandal.
The Office of the Bergen County Prosecutor said in a letter to a local judge it did not have sufficient evidence to prove allegations that Christie knew about a plot to close lanes at the George Washington Bridge in 2013 in order to punish a local mayor for failing to endorse Christie’s re-election bid.
“The reason is simple, but compelling – that charge cannot be proven beyond a reasonable doubt,” the letter said.
Bill Brennan, a retired firefighter and activist who announced he would run for governor this year, filed the citizen complaint against Christie last September.
Roy McGeady, a municipal judge in Fort Lee, had found probable cause to allow the case against Christie to proceed after a hearing at which Brennan testified. Christie’s lawyer was not permitted to argue or cross-examine, McGeady said, because the governor was not a defendant until probable cause was established.
Bergen County Superior Court Judge Bonnie Mizdol rejected Christie’s subsequent request to toss the complaint outright. But she agreed with both Christie’s lawyers and county prosecutors that McGeady erroneously denied the governor’s attorney an opportunity to participate.
The Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office said in the letter that citizen complaints typically allege minor crimes of which the complainant has personal knowledge. The letter said criminal misconduct was far outside that scope.
“In short, a matter of this gravity should not have been heard by a municipal court judge,” the letter said.
Should charges have been pursued, a criminal misconduct conviction carries a five- to ten-year sentence.
The governor is reported to be “gratified” with the news.
Reuters continues:
Brian Murray, a spokesman for Christie, applauded the decision on Friday.
“The Governor is gratified that the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office has ended this baseless fiasco began by Mr. Brennan and perpetuated by Judge McGeady,” Murray said in a statement. “It is right and appropriate that this injustice against the Governor is finally over.”
Watch:
DONATE
Donations tax deductible
to the full extent allowed by law.
Comments
Christie is toast anyway. He dumped his promises to fix the state when he got the POTUS aspirations. He got the idiot Booker a senate seat because he wouldn’t appoint a GOP member to the seat and he didn’t support anyone running on the GOP NJ ticket. He wasn’t going to deliver any NJ votes for him or for any other GOP candidate on the national level. He needs to just go away. The only reason he got elected was because Corzine had damaged the state so much and his opponent the 2nd time was almost a total unknown.
Think about this for one minute. obama pardoned a national traitor in he/she Manning. Bergdahl has yet to be tried. Gen. Patreus was convicted. Eric Holder was found to be LYING to Congress and was found in contempt. obama lied about almost everything he said or did including the infamous video. Yet this stupid event has been in the news since the day it happened as if it was a national event that transformed thousands of lives. Let no one tell you that the msm isn’t biased! Christie should contact Nutrisystem and become their biggest loser!
inspectorudy-
your comment about Gov Christie size is spot on for anyone wanting to be in the public eye.
There is an innate prejudice against fat people and for the obese they tend to push their ‘weight’ around as an intimidation tactic.
That the Gov is dirty, in NJ that is a given – actually for most politicians. The ides of term limits for all politicians (and appointed officials, judges etc) needs to be codified in the US Constitution.
The lifetime appointments of the SCOTUS needs to be modified, where they need to be reappointed every 10 years (to make sure that we don’t have incompetents remain on the bench).
The ban on politicians, etc to become lobbyists (where the BIG money is) also needs to be enacted for local, state and national
legislatures.
Just a thought.
Bridgegate, like the McConnell fiasco in Virginia, shows that when Obama was in charge, it was a criminal act to be a member of the opposition party.
The equivalent of the Red Chinese Show Trials
Christie caved to the unions and stuck NJ with a windfall $.23 gas tax increase.
He sought and got no relief in the cost and process for road construction or quality.
Loser-first class.
Trump initially had Christie in a key position of his transition team, but quickly threw him not just under the bus, but under the rear axle after he attempted to flood the administration with lobbyist-types.
“The Governor is gratified that the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office has ended this baseless fiasco began by Mr. Brennan and perpetuated by Judge McGeady,” Murray said in a statement.
This isn’t just “whistling past the graveyard”. This is whistling past the graveyard out your ass.
Christie was dirty. He just wasn’t dirty enough to convict.
Or “New Jorsy”, as normal.
The smear of a possible prosecution was effective in derailing his political ambitions. Mission accomplished. Come backs are always possible lacking a conviction.
I think he was destined to be dumped by Trump due to Trump’s son in law harboring a grudge against Christie for putting his dad in the slammer.
This is the biggest joke ever to reach the courts. Ever.