The New York Times reports, “Federal prosecutors in the George Washington Bridge lane-closing trial rested their case against two former aides to Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey on Thursday [October 13] with the words of the defendants themselves.” Jurors saw a video of then-PANYNJ deputy executive director Bill Baroni testifying to a New Jersey legislative committee about a supposed study of bridge lanes dedicated to Fort Lee traffic. According to the Times, “The stark contrast between [the] legislative testimony and the nearly four weeks of court testimony here made the video some of the most potentially damning evidence of the trial.” Earlier, prosecutors projected defendant Bridget Kelly’s now-infamous “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee” email on a screen and called an FBI agent to testify that Kelly had deleted that message and others dated around the time of the lane closings. Baroni’s counsel called a first witness, Charles McKenna, Governor Christie’s chief counsel at the time of the lane closings, before the court recessed.
