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"The former Port Authority official who personally oversaw the George Washington Bridge lane closures has said New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie had knowledge of the scandal, contrary to the governor's previous public statements.\nAn attorney for the former official, David Wildstein, said in a letter that the lane closures were \"the Christie administration\u2019s order\" and \"evidence exists as well tying Mr. Christie to having knowledge of the lane closures,\" according to Friday reports by the New York Times and The Record. Bill Baroni, whom Christie appointed deputy director of the Port Authority in 2010, hired Wildstein as director of interstate capital projects in May 2010. \nSee also: Christie and the Bridge: A Political Scandal Made for Netflix\nWildstein and Christie's history predates their political ties; the two attended the same high school, but Christie recently denied the widely reported rumor that they were close friends. Wildstein resigned as director of interstate capital projects at the Port Authority over the bridge scandal. This letter is the first time Christie has been personally tied to the incident.\nChristie accepted blame but denied personal knowledge of the nature of the lane closures at an extensive press conference on Jan. 9. \nThe letter from Alan Zegas, Wildstein's lawyer, suggests Christie was not completely honest with the public.\nIt has also come to light that a person within the Christie administration communicated the Christie administration's order that certain lanes on the George Washington Bridge were to be closed, and evidence exists as well tying Mr. Christie to having knowledge of the lane closures, during the period when the lanes were closed, contrary to what the Governor stated publicly in a two-hour press conference he gave immediately before Mr. Wildstein was scheduled to appear before the Transportation Committee.\nOpponents have charged that Christie's administration ordered the lane closures as political retaliation against the mayor of Fort Lee, N.J., who declined to endorse Christie in the November gubernatorial election. Under the guise of conducting a traffic study, the lane closures caused nearly a week of crippling gridlock for Fort Lee in September, delaying millions of commuters including school buses and emergency vehicles.\nUPDATE, Jan. 31, 6 p.m. ET: Time reports that the Christie administration has replied to Wildstein's allegations with the following denial:\nMr. Wildstein's lawyer confirms what the Governor has said all along \u2014 he had absolutely no prior knowledge of the lane closures before they happened and whatever Mr. Wildstein's motivations were for closing them to begin with. As the Governor said in a Dec. 13 press conference, he only first learned lanes were closed when it was reported by the press and as he said in his Jan. 9 press conference, had no indication that this was anything other than a traffic study until he read otherwise the morning of Jan. 8. The Governor denies Mr. Wildstein's lawyer's other assertions.\nHave something to add to this story? Share it in the comments."^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://mashable.com/2014/01/31/christie-scandal-letter/>