Documents released Friday by New Jersey state legislators show that officials close to Governor Chris Christie went to elaborate lengths to cover up the political reasons behind the closing of the George Washington Bridge.
The papers are the latest development in a scandal that has threatened to dimnish the straight-talking Christie's aspirations for the White House.
The documents show for the first time all of the detailed work that went into trying to cover up the scandal.
Officials loyal to the governor went all out to make it seem like the bridge closing was part of a traffic study even though their documented private conversations say otherwise.
One of the documents released was a fake PowerPoint presentation created after traffic had been at a standstill for three days. The presentation was titled "EARLY assessment of the benefits of the trial" but said the conclusion was "TBD".
Another email was released by a Port Authority official in which the man told his coworkers that all communications about the project should be in person instead of by email, in order to not leave a paper trail.
Emails show that Authority officials installed by New York Governor Andrew Cuomo openly questioned the closing with one official calling it a "danger to the public interest."But officials installed by Christie went out of their way to quiet the complaints.
Other documents show top Port Authority officials ignored complaints from the local police chief and dozens of citizens as the traffic buildup increased. Department deputies were instructed to deliberately stonewall and slow down reporters investigating the matter.
The documents release comes after Christie spent most of this week publicly apologizing for the scandal. The governor maintains he had no direct knowledge of the political reasons behind the bridge closing. It is being alleged by state legislators that the bridge was closed because the Democratic mayor of Fort Lee did not support Christie in his run for governor.
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