Bridge Trial Focuses on Christie’s Political Tactics
Source: New York Times
NEWARK Fourteen months before Chris Christie was up for re-election as governor of New Jersey, officials in his administration were already discussing his 2016 bid for the White House.
And they saw the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey and its resources money, jobs, symbolic artifacts from the wreckage of the World Trade Center after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks as assets that could be traded for endorsements and support in both campaigns.
Just to be clear, at some point hundreds of flags flown over the WTC will find their way to VFWs all through Iowa, New Hampshire and South Carolina, David Wildstein, a self-described enforcer for Mr. Christie at the Port Authority, wrote in September 2012 to Bill Stepien, the governors deputy chief of staff, who would go on to run Mr. Christies re-election and was expected to run the presidential campaign.
I was conveying to Mr. Stepien that the flags that could be used to the governors political advantage in New Jersey could be used in those three states, the first three to vote in presidential primaries, Mr. Wildstein said in federal court here Friday.
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