full transcript n.j. gov. chris christie’s jan. 9 news conference on george washington bridge...

Upload: sisterrosetta

Post on 04-Jun-2018

217 views

Category:

Documents


0 download

TRANSCRIPT

  • 8/13/2019 Full transcript N.J. Gov. Chris Christies Jan. 9 news conference on George Washington Bridge scandal

    1/40

    EditSearch

    Before, During and After

    #christie #chrischristie #bridgegate

    washingtonpost.com/politics/transcript-chris-christies-news-conference-on-george-

    washington-bridge-scandal/2014/01/09/d0f4711c-7944-11e3-8963-b4b654bcc9b2_story.html

    Full transcript: N.J. Gov. Chris Christies Jan.

    9 news conference on George Washington

    Bridge scandal

    Published: January 9

    GOVERNOR CHRIS CHRISTIE: Good morning.

    I come out here to this office where I've been many times before and I've come out heretoday to apologize to the people of New Jersey. I apologize to the people of Fort Lee andI apologize to the members of the state legislature.

    I am embarrassed and humiliated by the conduct of some of the people on my team.

    There's no doubt in my mind that the conduct that they exhibited is completelyunacceptable and showed a lack of respect for the appropriate role of government andfor the people that were trusted to serve.

    Two pieces to what I want to talk about today. The first is I believe that all of the peoplewho were affected by this conduct deserve this apology and that's why I'm giving it tothem. I also need to apologize to them for my failure as the governor of this state tounderstand the true nature of this problem sooner than I did. But I believe I have anunderstanding now of the true nature of the problem and I've taken the following actionas a result.

    This morning I've terminated the employment of Bridget Kelly, effective immediately.I've terminated her employment because she lied to me. I brought my senior stafftogether I think about four weeks ago tomorrow. And I put to all of them one simplechallenge: If there is any information that you know about the decision to close theselanes in Fort Lee, you have one hour to tell either my chief of staff, Kevin O'Dowd, ormy chief counsel, Charlie McKenna.

    And I told them that in an hour I was going to go out in a press conference. And if noone gave me other information to the contrary that I was going to say that no one on my

  • 8/13/2019 Full transcript N.J. Gov. Chris Christies Jan. 9 news conference on George Washington Bridge scandal

    2/40

    staff was involved in this matter.

    Over the course of the next hour, Kevin and Charlie interviewed each member of mysenior staff, came back and reported to me that they all reported that there was noinformation other than what we already knew that had been testified to by SenatorBaroni regarding this incident. I then questioned Kevin O'Dowd and Charlie McKenna

    directly, since they are the only two who report directly to me, and they assured me thatthey had no information that would change my ability to be able to say that no one, inresponse in Angie's (sp) question, on my staff was involved in this matter.

    That was obviously a lie. And the emails that I saw for the first time yesterday morning,when they broken in I believe the Bergen Record story, proved that that was a lie.There's no justification for that behavior. There's no justification for ever lying to agovernor or a person in authority in this government. And as a result, I've terminatedBridget's employment immediately this morning.

    Secondly, I have and will continue to, started yesterday, to once again now have personal

    one-on-one discussions myself with the remaining members of my senior staff todetermine if there's any other information that I do not know and need to know in orderto take appropriate action.

    I'm not completed with those interviews yet, but when I am, if there is additionalinformation that needs to be disclosed, I will do so. If there's additional actions that needto be taken with my senior staff, I will do so.

    I will tell you, though, it's been written a lot over the last couple of days about what atight-knit staff I have and how closely everyone works together, and that is true. Andever since the time I was U.S. attorney, I've engendered the sense and feeling among thepeople closest to me that we're a family, and we work together and we tell each othertruth, we support each other when we need to be supported, and we admonish each otherwhen we need to be admonished. I am heartbroken that someone who I permitted to bein that circle of trust for the last five years betrayed my trust.

    I would never have come out here four or five weeks ago and made a joke about theselane closures if I had ever had an inkling that anyone on my staff would have been sostupid but to be involved and then so deceitful as to just -- just to not disclose theinformation of their involvement to me when directly asked by their superior. And thosequestions were not asked, by the way, just once; they were asked repeatedly.

    So I take this action today because it's my job. I am responsible for what happened. I amsad to report to the people of New Jersey that we fell short.

    We fell short of the expectations that we've created over the last four years for the typeof excellence in government that they should expect from this office.

    But I have repeatedly said to them that while I promise them the best governor's office Icould give them, I could never promise them a perfect governor's office. And so when I

  • 8/13/2019 Full transcript N.J. Gov. Chris Christies Jan. 9 news conference on George Washington Bridge scandal

    3/40

    find those imperfections, those mistakes, those lies, my obligation as the chief executiveof this state is to act. And as to Bridget Kelly, I've acted today.

    Secondly, I was disturbed by the tone and behavior and attitude of callous indifferencethat was displayed in the emails by my former campaign manager, Bill Stepien. Andreading that, it made me lose my confidence in Bill's judgment. And you cannot have

    someone at the top of your political operation who you do not have confidence in. As aresult, I've instructed Bill Stepien to not place his name in nomination for state partychairman, and he will not be considered for state party chairman, and I've instructed himto withdraw his consultancy with the Republican Governors Association. If I cannottrust someone's judgment, I cannot ask others to do so, and I would not place him at thehead of my political operation because of the lack of judgment that was shown in theemails that were revealed yesterday.

    That has also been communicated to Mr. Stepien last night. There's no doubt that Billhas been one of my closest advisers over the last five years. And so for that too I am sad

    today to have to take this action. But I also know that I have a job to do. And it's the jobthat I've asked the people of New Jersey to entrust me with. And I can never allowpersonal feelings or long-standing relationships to get in the way of doing my job theway it's appropriate to do it.

    But I don't want any of you to confuse what I'm saying this morning. Ultimately I amresponsible for what happens under my watch -- the good and the bad. And whenmistakes are made, then I have to own up to them and take the action that I believe isnecessary in order to remediate them. As I mentioned to you earlier, I spent all dayyesterday digging into talking to folks and getting to the bottom of things. I know there

    was much discussion yesterday about what was I doing.Well, let me tell you, everybody, I was blindsided yesterday morning. I was done withmy workout yesterday morning and got a call from my communications director at about8:50, 8:55, informing me of this story that had just broken on the Bergen Recordwebsite. That was the first time I knew about this. That was the first time I had seen anyof the documents that were revealed yesterday.

    And so before I came out and spoke to all of you, I wanted to do the best I could to try toget to the bottom on some of this so that when I came out I could answer questions asbest I can and take appropriate action if action was necessary.

    There was no doubt from reading those emails yesterday, in my mind, that action wasnecessary. And then I wanted to make sure that I spoke to those people who advise me tomake sure if there was any other information they were aware of, that I had it before Iacted.

    I'm going to continue this process. I couldn't get it all done yesterday. And as I said, ifthere's more information that I uncover, I'll act accordingly in terms of releasing it to thepublic and taking whatever action may be necessary, if any is, for any other issues. And

  • 8/13/2019 Full transcript N.J. Gov. Chris Christies Jan. 9 news conference on George Washington Bridge scandal

    4/40

    also, we'll react to any information that's incoming from anyplace else, given that there'san OIG investigation and a legislative investigation.

    Later today I'm going to be going to Fort Lee, asked to meet with the mayor to apologizeto him personally, face to face, and also to apologize to the people of Fort Lee in theirtown. I think they need to see me do that personally, and I intend to do that later on

    today. People of those communities for four days were impacted in a completely callousand indifferent way, and I'm going to go and apologize for that.

    Let me conclude with this. This is not the tone that I've set over the last four years in thisbuilding. It's not the environment I've worked so hard to achieve. We saw just a fewmonths ago, and I've seen over the course of the last four years, Republicans andDemocrats working together, not without argument -- government's never withoutargument -- but ultimately coming to resolution on so many different issues in abipartisan way and running a campaign that was in fact a bipartisan campaign.

    And so I am extraordinarily disappointed by this, but this is the exception, it is not the

    rule, of what's happened over the last four years in this administration.

    I've considered it over the last four years to be my job to be the governor of every NewJerseyan -- Republican, Democrat, independent or unaffiliated -- and I've worked withelected officials on both sides of the aisle, ones that I agree with and ones that I disagreewith. The political overtones that were exhibited in those documents released yesterdayand the conduct by those people is not acceptable.

    But people, I think, all across this state understand that human beings are not perfect andmistakes are made. And I believe what they expect of me as the chief executive of thisstate is when that information comes into my possession, that I consider it and then actas swiftly as possible to remediate whatever ill occurred. That's what I've done today.Actions have consequences, and I'm living up to that right now.

    And I'll say one last thing, just so we're really clear. I had no knowledge or involvementin this issue, in its planning or it execution, and I am stunned by the abject stupidity thatwas shown here. Regardless of what the facts ultimately uncover, this was handled in acallous and indifferent way, and it is not the way this administration has conducted itselfover the last four years and not the way it will conduct itself over the next four.

    I will do everything within my power to assure the people of New Jersey that. And I

    thank them for their willingness to consider my apology on behalf of this government. Inthe end, I have 65,000 people working for me every day. And I cannot know what eachone of them is doing at every minute. But that doesn't matter; I'm ultimately responsiblefor what they do. And that's why I took this action.

    David.

    Q: Governor, beyond the apology and the terminations that you've announced, whatother steps -- concrete steps do you plan to take to demonstrate to the people of New

  • 8/13/2019 Full transcript N.J. Gov. Chris Christies Jan. 9 news conference on George Washington Bridge scandal

    5/40

    Jersey and the people of the country that you want to change the perception of what hashappened here? And will that include working cooperatively with these investigationsthat are now moving forward because in the past you had some rather nasty words forthe people who were heading them up?

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Yeah, well -- and I apologized for that this morning, David, because I

    was being led to believe by folks around me that there was no basis to this. And so --you know, and let's be -- let's be fair, there have been times when there have beeninvestigations around here that have led to nothing and have had no basis. But I waswrong.

    And so now, having been proven wrong, of course we'll work cooperatively with theinvestigations. And you know, I'm going through an examination, as I mentioned to you,right now. That's what I'm doing. I'm going through an examination and talking to theindividual people who work for me, not only to discover if there's any other informationthat we need to find, but also to ask them: How did this happen? How did -- you know,

    how did this, you know, occur to us?I think -- you know, listen. As I said before, we -- I've had a tight-knit group of peoplewho I trust implicitly. I have no reason to believe they weren't telling me the truth. It isheartbreaking to me that I wasn't told the truth. I'm a very loyal guy, and I expect loyaltyin return. And lying to me is not an exhibition of loyalty.

    And so, you know, I'm going to look into this personally. This is my responsibility,David (sp). And so what steps we'll take after that, if there are concrete steps beyondwhat I've done today, then we'll certainly announce them and talk about them. If -- youknow, if not, then, you know, I'll just say, listen, I think we've gotten to the bottom of

    this, and we're going to move forward with the new team, and -- you know, I have a newteam coming in as well who I'm trying to integrate now also in the next two weeks. Sothere'll be a lot of action going on around here.

    Kelly (sp)?

    Q: Your critics say this reveals that you are a political bully, that your style is payback.Are you? And does this compromise your ability to serve?

    GOV. CHRISTIE: No, I'm not. Hey, listen, Kelly (sp). Politics ain't bean bag, OK? Andeverybody in the country who engages in politics knows that. On the other hand, that's

    very, very different than saying that, you know, someone's a bully. I have very heateddiscussions and arguments with people in my own party and on the other side of theaisle. I feel passionately about issues. And I don't hide my emotions from people. I amnot a focus-group tested, blow- dried candidate or governor.

    Now, that has always made some people, as you know, uneasy. Some people like thatstyle, some people don't. And I've always -- I think you asked me the question day afterthe election, are you willing to change your style in order to appeal to a broaderaudience?

  • 8/13/2019 Full transcript N.J. Gov. Chris Christies Jan. 9 news conference on George Washington Bridge scandal

    6/40

    And I think I said no because I am who I am. But I am not a bully.

    And what I will tell you is that the folks who have worked with me over a long period oftime would, I believe, tell you that I'm tough, but I've shown over the last four years inthe tone that we've set here that I'm willing to compromise, that I'm willing to work withothers. And the campaign showed, with all of the folks who came from the other side of

    the aisle to support us, that if we weren't willing to have relationships with those folks, itwould have never happened that way.

    So I don't believe that, Kelly (sp), and I don't believe the body of work in the last fouryears displays that.

    Now, in this instance, the language used and the conduct displayed in those emails isunacceptable to me, and I will not tolerate it. But the best I can do is when I see stufflike that, to end it. And I know that won't satisfy everybody, but I'm not in the businessof satisfying everybody. I'm in the business of trying to satisfy the people who electedme governor.

    Michael.

    Q: Governor?

    Q: Governor?

    (Cross talk.)

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Michael. Michael.

    Q: Governor, you say that you're going to individually interview all the members of thegovernor's office.

    GOV. CHRISTIE: The senior staff, yeah.

    Q: What about the campaign? Are you going to -- are you going to personally interview--

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Well, many --

    Q: How confident are you that this doesn't rise above Bill Stepien in the campaign?

    GOV. CHRISTIE: There was no one above Bill Stepien in the campaign. He was thecampaign manager. So there was no one above Bill Stepien in the campaign.

    Q: But there were plenty of other officials, some of them quite close to you.GOV. CHRISTIE: Yeah, but, Michael, their role in the campaign was not the day-to-dayoperation of the campaign. Bill Palatucci was the chairman of the campaign, and he wasessentially involved with fundraising. That was Bill's main task. Mike DuHaime was thegeneral consultant. He dealt with TV ads and mail pieces. So the day-to-day operation ofthe campaign --

    Q: You're sure that they didn't know about?

  • 8/13/2019 Full transcript N.J. Gov. Chris Christies Jan. 9 news conference on George Washington Bridge scandal

    7/40

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Yes, I've spoken to both of them. They were two of my discussionsyesterday.

    Angie (sp)?

    (Cross talk.)

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Angie (sp)? Angie (sp)?Q: Governor --

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Guys, we don't work that way.

    Q: How confident are you that this tactic -- this bullying tactic, this revenge/retributiontactic -- did not go beyond -- (off mic)?

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Well, listen, Angie (sp), I'm not going to -- I'm smart enough nowafter this experience not to go out there and certify that unequivocally, OK? I don't haveany evidence before me as we speak that it went beyond this incident, but I -- but I can't

    tell you that I know that for sure as to every aspect of everything, because now I have tobe much more circumspect about that.

    Prior to yesterday, I believed that if I looked someone in the eye who I worked with andtrusted and asked them that I would get an honest answer. Maybe that was naive, butthat's what I believed. So now I'm going and digging in and asking more questions. But Ican't make a warranty on that, Angie (sp). I don't believe so but I can't make a warrantyon that, and I won't, because when I did that four weeks ago I wound up being wrong.

    Q: Governor --

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Do you have a follow up?

    Q: But you can tell us that you do not authorize this kind of retribution.

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Oh, absolutely not. No. And I knew nothing about this. And until itstarted to be reported in the papers about the closure, but even then I was told this was atraffic study. Senator Barnoni testified that it was a traffic study. There still may havebeen a traffic study that now has political overtones to it as well. I don't know the answerto that, Angie (sp).

    We're going to find out, but I don't know, because Senator Barnoi presented all types ofinformation that day to the legislature -- statistics and maps and otherwise -- that seemed

    evidence of a traffic study, so why would I believe that anybody would not be telling thetruth about that? I said that I think at the time, but --

    Q: Governor?

    GOV. CHRISTIE: I'm not finished yet, guys. But the fact is that regardless of all that,you know, it's clear now that in the minds of some people, there were political overtonesor political side deals on this.

    And that's unacceptable. So whether there was a traffic study or not, I don't know. It

  • 8/13/2019 Full transcript N.J. Gov. Chris Christies Jan. 9 news conference on George Washington Bridge scandal

    8/40

    appeared that there was one based on what I saw in the testimony, but regardless ofwhether there was or there wasn't, there clearly were also political overtones that wereevidenced in that -- in those emails and other messages that were never, ever brought tomy attention until yesterday.

    Q: Governor?

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Yeah.

    Q: Can you understand why people would have a hard time believing that you didn'tknow about this thing? Considering your management style and the closeness of yourstaff, if you didn't know about it, what does that say about your ability to lead?

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Well, listen, I am -- there's this -- there's this, you know, kind ofreputation out there of me being a micromanager. I'm not. I mean, I think if you talk tomy staff, what they would tell you is that I delegate enormous authority to my staff andenormous authority to my Cabinet. And I tell them, come to me with the policy

    decisions that need to be made, with some high-level personnel decisions that need to bemade. But I do not manage in that kind of micro way, first.

    Second, there's no way that anybody would think that I know about everything that'sgoing on, not only in ever agency of government at all times, but also every independentauthority that New Jersey either has on its own or by state -- both with New York, withPennsylvania and with Delaware. So what I can tell you is if people find that hard tobelieve, I don't know what else to say except to tell them that I had no knowledge of this-- of the planning, the execution or anything about it -- and that I first found out about itafter it was over.

    And even then, what I was told was that it was a traffic study. And there was noevidence to the contrary until yesterday that was brought to my attention or anybodyelse's attention.

    And so I understand why people would ask that question, and I understand your questioncompletely. But what I also want to tell the people is that even with all that being said,it's still my responsibility. I didn't know about it, but it's my responsibility because I'mthe governor. So I'm taking that responsibility and taking actions appropriate withexecuting the responsibility in accord with what the information is today.

    Marcia (sp).

    Q: Governor, the U.S. attorney in New Jersey has said he's opening an investigation todetermine whether a federal law was violated here. You were the U.S. attorney in NewJersey at one time. Would you, as a U.S. attorney -- would you think that there'sanything to be investigated -- (off mic) --

    GOV. CHRISTIE: As I've said many times, when I was U.S. attorney, I hated whenpoliticians stood behind a podium and said this is what the U.S. attorney should orshouldn't do, and I'm not going to engage in that kind of conduct at all.

  • 8/13/2019 Full transcript N.J. Gov. Chris Christies Jan. 9 news conference on George Washington Bridge scandal

    9/40

    (Cross talk.)

    Q: Are there any other -- are there any other cases -- have you asked from your staff ifthere are any other cases of political retribution conducted during your campaign toother mayors -- (in New Jersey ?)?

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Well, listen, again, let me say this: Clearly, that's the tone of those

    emails. But the thing that -- the other part of this that just shocks me is as I've said to youall many times before, Mayor Sokolich was never on my radar screen. He was nevermentioned to me as somebody whose endorsement we were even pursuing. And in fact, Ithink he said on CNN last night that he doesn't recall ever being asked for hisendorsement. So part of this is I never saw this as political retribution because I didn'tthink he did anything to us.

    Now, we pursued lots of endorsements during the campaign from Democrats, and wedidn't receive most of them. We received about 60 at the end of the day.

    We pursued hundreds.And so I never -- I don't have any recollection of at any time, anybody in the campaignever asking me to meet with Mayor Sokolich or call him, which was the typical coursethat was used when we were attempting to get an endorsement. The staff would workwith the elected official first, and then, when they thought, using the vernacular, the ballwas on the tee, they would call me in to make a phone call or have a meeting or abreakfast, and I would then meet with the elected official and see if I could bring it overthe line.

    I don't remember ever meeting Mayor Sokolich in that -- certainly I never did in that

    context. I don't ever -- I'm sure I met him at some point in an event in Bergen County,but I have to tell you, until I saw his picture last night on television, I wouldn't havebeen able to pick him out of a lineup. And so part of this is -- the reason that theretribution idea never came into my head is because I never even knew that we werepursuing his endorsement, and no one ever came to me to get me to try to pursue theendorsement in any way, so I never saw it as a serious effort.

    Q: (Inaudible) -- now that you know it did happen?

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Well, sure. Of course -- of course -- of course. John (sp)? John (sp)?

    Q: You say you're going to continue to ask these questions of your staff. I want to knowwhat kind of questions you might be asking of yourself. These aren't just any of the65,000 employees, these are people -- five or six people as close to you as you can get --people you trust -- (inaudible) -- to your birthday party, and they either --

    GOV. CHRISTIE: What was that last piece?

    Q: Went to a birthday party.

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Oh, went to a birthday party of mine?

  • 8/13/2019 Full transcript N.J. Gov. Chris Christies Jan. 9 news conference on George Washington Bridge scandal

    10/40

    Q: One of your staff -- (one of the ?) staffers you fired this morning.

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Yeah. A few of them were there.

    Q: So, I'm just asking, what do you ask yourself about -- they either thought this is whatthe boss wanted, or they -- as a group, they were willing to go rogue and do this and thentry to cover it up -- (inaudible) --

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Well, listen, obviously -- I said earlier, John (sp), I'm heartbrokenabout it, and I'm incredibly disappointed. I don't think I've gotten to the angry stage yet,but I'm sure I'll get there.

    But I'm just stunned.

    And what does it make me ask about me? It makes me ask about me what did I dowrong to have these folks think it was OK to lie to me? And there's a lot of soul-searching that goes around with this. You know, when you're a leader of an organization-- and I've had this happen to me before, where I've had folks not tell me the truth about

    something -- not since I've been governor but in previous leadership positions -- youalways wonder about what you could do differently. And believe me, John (sp), I haven'thad a lot of sleep the last two nights, and I've been doing a lot of soul-searching. I'm sickover this. I've worked for the last 12 years in public life developing a reputation forhonesty and directness and blunt talk, one that I think is well-deserved. But, you know,when something like this happens, it's appropriate for you to question yourself, andcertainly I am. And I am soul-searching on this.

    But what I also want the people of New Jersey to know is that this is the exception, notthe rule. And they've seen that over the last four years with the way I've worked and

    what I've done. So I don't want to fall into the trap of saying, well, this one incidenthappened, therefore the one incident defines the whole -- it does not, just like oneemployee who's lied doesn't determine the character of all the other employees aroundyou. And so I don't want to overreact to that in that way either, John (sp). But if you'reasking me over the last 48 hours or last 36 hours I've done some soul-searching, you betI have.

    Q: Governor --

    Q: Governor --

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Brian (sp), Brian (sp).

    Q: Governor, the mayor of Jersey City is quoted as saying that today he declined toendorse you and said he would vote Democrat, and as many as 10 appointments betweenstate officials and Jersey City officials were cancelled suddenly, all at once.

    How do you explain that in the context of what you now know about what some of yourstaff did?

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Well, listen, all I know is -- I don't know, Brian (sp), is the first

  • 8/13/2019 Full transcript N.J. Gov. Chris Christies Jan. 9 news conference on George Washington Bridge scandal

    11/40

  • 8/13/2019 Full transcript N.J. Gov. Chris Christies Jan. 9 news conference on George Washington Bridge scandal

    12/40

    disagreements, but the truth as I see it.

    And so yeah, I mean, would I include the press corps? Of course I would, because mostif not -- many if not most of you are residents of the state, and you rely upon this stategovernment to be honest and trustworthy as well. And in this instance, my governmentfell short, and I take responsibility for that, and that's why I'm apologizing.

    Beth. (Cross talk.) Beth.

    Q: I'm wondering what your staff said to you about why they lied to you. Why wouldthey do that? What was their explanation? And what about Mr. Samson? What role didhe play in this?

    GOV. CHRISTIE: I have -- I have not had any conversation with Bridget Kelly since theemail came out. And so she was not given the opportunity to explain to me why she liedbecause it was so obvious that she had. And I'm, quite frankly, not interested in theexplanation at the moment.

    Q: Governor?GOV. CHRISTIE: I'm not done. She had a second part of the question.

    I think General Samson put out a statement yesterday that he had no knowledge of this. Iinterviewed him yesterday. He was one of my interviews. I am convinced that he hadabsolutely no knowledge of this, that this was executed at the operational level andnever brought to the attention of the Board of Commissioners until Chairman Foyewrote his email -- or Executive Director Foye wrote his email to the Board ofCommissioners.

    And so I sat and met for two hours yesterday with Mr. Sampson -- General Sampson --and again, I'm confident that he had no knowledge of this, based upon our conversationsand his review of his information. So I think, you know, as he said yesterday, he isangered by this and upset about it, and I know that he's going to lead -- cooperate withthe OIG investigation that's ongoing and lead a discussion at the Port Authority aboutwhat could be done in the future to stop such conduct.

    Q: Governor -- PAGE 25 01/09/2002 .STX

    Port Authority about what could be done in the future to stop such conduct.

    Q: Governor -- PAGE 25 CHRISTIE-PRESS-CONF

    GOV. CHRISTIE: 01/09/2002 .STX Charlie.

    Q: Governor, you mentioned earlier that -- (off mic) -- asking the question is what did I-- (off mic) -- lie to me, but are you also asking the question, what did I say or how did Iconduct myself in the office to behave in a way that would lend these folks to think itwas OK to carry out such a scheme like this? (Off mic) -- that suspicions that (youfostered ?) -- (off mic) -- through your administration or your campaign that allowedpeople to think it was OK to intimidate or retaliate against people?

  • 8/13/2019 Full transcript N.J. Gov. Chris Christies Jan. 9 news conference on George Washington Bridge scandal

    13/40

  • 8/13/2019 Full transcript N.J. Gov. Chris Christies Jan. 9 news conference on George Washington Bridge scandal

    14/40

  • 8/13/2019 Full transcript N.J. Gov. Chris Christies Jan. 9 news conference on George Washington Bridge scandal

    15/40

    conduct myself if there's any other information surrounding this that comes up, oranything different that comes up over the course of the next four years.

    Phil (ph).

    Q: (Off mic) -- how much of a crisis in confidence -- (off mic) -- people you surroundingyourself with and your ability to accept future leadership roles?

    GOV. CHRISTIE: I can -- I can differentiate, Phil (sp), between people who have servedme well and they haven't. And of course, there is always going to be some -- aftersomething like this where you've been lied to, there is going to be some crisis inconfidence, OK? There always will be. I mean, anybody who tells you differently is nottelling you the truth. If they say to you, you know, this happened to you and you're notgoing to second-guess yourself at all, well then you're -- then you're just stupid. Ofcourse I've second- guessed myself and got through my head on some of this stuff. Andin the future I'll try to be even more careful.

    But here's what I know about human beings, Phil (sp). I've hired a lot of them in mytime, as U.S. attorney, as governor and as an -- a hiring attorney in a private practice lawfirm. Sometimes, despite the best background checks beside -- you know, despite thebest interviews, despite your best instincts, sometimes people are a mistake hire.Sometimes they start off as a good hire; because of circumstances that happened in theirlife, they change. You can't prevent everything. But the test of leadership is, when youfind it out, what do you do? And I'm saddened to have to do this. It's difficult personallyto do. But it's my job, and I've taken an oath, and I'm going to execute my job.

    Josh (sp)?

    Q: Governor -- (off mic) -- just found out about -- (off mic) -- story. Is that just amisstatement, or --

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Yeah, I'm sorry.

    Q: OK. The (other thing is ?), in terms of drilling down down now that you've been ableto get a handle a little bit more on -- (off mic) -- what happened (then ?)? Was there athreat or an ask for an endorsement? Was there then retribution?

    And what about this piece where there was some sort of vendetta exercised against theNew York side at the Port Authority after the revelations first began appearing in thepress?

    GOV. CHRISTIE: A few things. First off, to my knowledge -- and I think the mayor saidthis last night -- I have no knowledge of him being asked for an endorsement. He mayhave been, but he certainly was never asked by me. But he, I think, said last night ontelevision that he doesn't recall ever being asked for an endorsement. That's why thismade no sense to me, Josh, because why would you execute a vendetta againstsomebody who you didn't get a chance to say no to? Put aside the fact that you shouldn'tdo that at all, but then, if you never asked him for an endorsement, why are you mad at

  • 8/13/2019 Full transcript N.J. Gov. Chris Christies Jan. 9 news conference on George Washington Bridge scandal

    16/40

    him that he didn't give one? I mean, none of it made any sense to me. So that's the firstpoint.

    Q: So you still don't know what prompted an apparent vendetta? OK.

    GOV. CHRISTIE: I don't -- I don't. And again, I don't know whether this was a trafficstudy that then morphed into a political vendetta or a political vendetta that morphed

    into a traffic study. I mean, I've seen, in front of the legislature statistics and other thingsabout the traffic study, so I know there's information there. I don't know what it is, andso we'll find out over time maybe, but that's really in the minds of the people who weredoing it, and that's what I based my decisions on at the time, was the testimony thatpeople gave. Lastly --

    Q: On the (payback ?) with the New York side?

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Yeah -- no, no, no. Listen, I don't know exactly what you'rereferencing, but I think that you're talking about the Foye memo that was leaked? Is that

    what you were talking about? No?Q: Yeah, but why -- as the memo -- and it was a little more (to follow up ?) because of(the redactions ?) -- but it seemed that according to Wildstein's emails, the traffic issuearose, complaints were made, a story appeared in one of the newspapers. Complaintswere then lodged internally at the court over the stories, and so Wildstein says -- I don'tknow the exact words, so forgive me, but it's something along the lines of, we're takingappropriate action against the New York side, and Samson is working with us on it.

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Yeah, it was something -- yeah, I asked General Samson about this, Ithink it said -- yeah, it said something to that effect. I don't remember exactly what it

    was. I asked Samson -- General Samson about that yesterday. He said he has absolutelyno idea what Wildstein's referring to, and that the only communication that he had at thattime was his concern that he expressed to fellow commissioners about internal PortAuthority documents being leaked, and that he just said, that's just not appropriate forfolks to be leaking internal documents.

    But he has no recollection, from what he told me yesterday, of any conversation like thatwith Wildstein or Baroni at all that references what -- the gist of what you said in theemail.

    Q: (There weren't ?) internal payback outrage going on --

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Not that I --

    Q: -- (off mic)?

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Certainly not that I'm aware of, or not out of the normal. I mean, let'sremember something too: This is a bi-state agency with significant tension all the time.Now, there's no tension between Governor Cuomo and I; we get along quite well, andwhen issues rise to our level, we've always been able to resolve them. But there istension and always has been between New York and New Jersey on the allocation of

  • 8/13/2019 Full transcript N.J. Gov. Chris Christies Jan. 9 news conference on George Washington Bridge scandal

    17/40

    resources at the Port Authority.

    And so let me be clear; there are some battles over there that go on that have happenedin every administration over the course of my memory, but you can't connect that to --that's kind of the ongoing nature of the tension of that agency, and, I think, of most bi-state agencies, although I think at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey,

    because the resources are greater and demands are greater, it's even more. So no, nothingthat I know of that's specific to that, Josh.

    But I do want to make clear to people that, you know, this is -- there is tension that goeson between the employees of these agencies. Not every one of those issues of tension,thank goodness, are raised to my level and Governor Cuomo's level.

    But the good news for the people of New York and New Jersey is that when those issueshave been raised, in the last three years, to my level and Governor Cuomo's level, wehave always, between the two of us, amicably resolved it and been able to move on. Andsometimes that's the roles governors have to play in that agency.

    Q: Governor?

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Yeah.

    Q: Two questions about your judgment. You said clearly that you had nothing to do withthe actual implementation of what happened. So are you now questioning your own

    judgment about whether or not you can discern with your nose for scandal -- to discernwhether or not putting out a series of cones to change a couple of lanes of traffic wasactually a legitimate traffic study, one?

    GOV. CHRISTIE: I -- OK, let me answer that, and then I'll let you follow up. I don't

    know what makes a legitimate traffic study. It's not my area of expertise. And so Iwouldn't have a nose for that. I just wouldn't. I don't know what makes a legitimatetraffic study. I've been told that sometimes they're done live, sometimes they're done bycomputer model. I've heard that in the professionals who've testified for the PortAuthority. But you'd have to go to them to ask them what a legitimate traffic study is. Iprobably wouldn't know a traffic study if I tripped over it.

    Q: So in this environment, it didn't raise a smell for you?

    GOV. CHRISTIE: No, it didn't.

    Q: Governor --Q: And second --

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Second -- he had a follow-up. Go ahead.

    Q: Governor?

    Q: You've said -- you've said that -- just a moment ago that sometimes this raises to thelevel of governors. There's a report now that in fact you called Governor Cuomo to

  • 8/13/2019 Full transcript N.J. Gov. Chris Christies Jan. 9 news conference on George Washington Bridge scandal

    18/40

    complain that your representative on the Port Authority board was asking too manyquestions -- (inaudible) --

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Not true. Not true. I've denied that story before. That's an old story.And Governor Cuomo has denied it as well. So it's not true.

    Q: Governor, didn't Pat Foye perjure himself when he said he didn't believe this traffic

    study -- (inaudible) -- did he lie under oath -- (inaudible) --

    GOV. CHRISTIE: I don't -- listen, I have no idea. But clearly, you know, there's adifference of opinion between Senator Baroni and Pat Foye about the existence of atraffic study, and there seemed to me to be evidence that Senator Baroni showed ofstatistics and maps and other things about a traffic study.

    Now, this could go back to the nuance of what really constitutes a traffic study or not,and they may be arguing about some specifics and nuance that I'm not familiar with. ButI certainly would not accuse Pat Foye of perjuring himself. I don't. I'm not. I'm just

    telling you what I was told and what we saw before the legislature. But, you know, Icertainly wouldn't accuse Pat Foye of perjuring himself in any way.

    Q: (Off mic) -- right? You still think everything he said was genuine and that he's not inany way --

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Listen, I -- guess what. I -- after reading everything yesterday, I don'tknow. But what I'm telling you is that that's what I've been told; he seemed to displayevidence for that at the time. But that's now, because of the tone and tenor of theseemails and text messages, that's now -- you know, all this stuff is something that I'm notgoing to warranty, because I don't know, given some of this back and forth that went on

    between (all of them ?).Senator Baroni's a very respected guy. He served in this building for a long time. I'veknown him for a long time. When he, you know, made his testimony, I would have noreason to believe that he wasn't telling the truth. But obviously, from reading theseemails yesterday, there was other stuff going on that I hadn't been informed about.

    Bob.

    Q: Why didn't you check back -- (off mic)? You never called him to see --

    GOV. CHRISTIE: I never called him personally, no, but Baroni's position continued to

    be that there was a traffic study, and he had a disagreement with Pat Foye about that. So,you know, they had a disagreement. That was pretty clear. And I didn't think Bill Baroniwas going to change his mind, because Pat Foye had already expressed those concernsin earlier written documents that he had -- not he, but that someone had put out to thepress.

    Matt?

    Q: (Off mic) -- with Stepien yesterday, what was going on, why he --

  • 8/13/2019 Full transcript N.J. Gov. Chris Christies Jan. 9 news conference on George Washington Bridge scandal

    19/40

  • 8/13/2019 Full transcript N.J. Gov. Chris Christies Jan. 9 news conference on George Washington Bridge scandal

    20/40

    Q: -- in private with --

    GOV. CHRISTIE: I'm sad. I'm sad. That's the predominant emotion I feel right now issadness, sadness that I was betrayed by a member of my staff, sadness that I had peoplewho I entrusted with important jobs who acted completely inappropriately, sad that that'sled the people of New Jersey to have less confidence in the people that I've selected. The

    emotion that I've been displaying in private is sad.And as I said earlier, I think in the answer to your question, you know, I don't know whatthe stages of grief are in exact order, but I know anger gets there at some point. I'm sureI'll have that too. But the fact is right now I'm sad.

    Q: (Inaudible) -- friend David Wildstein?

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Well, let me just clear something up, OK, about my childhood friendDavid Wildstein. It is true that I met David in 1977 in high school. He's a year older thanme. David and I were not friends in high school. We were not even acquaintances in

    high school. I mean, I had a high school in Livingston, a three-year high school that1,800 students in a three-year high school in the late '70s, early 1980.

    I knew who David Wildstein was. I met David on the Tom Kean for governor campaignin 1977. He was a youth volunteer, and so was I.

    Really, after that time, I completed lost touch with David. We didn't travel in the samecircles in high school. You know, I was the class president and athlete. I don't know whatDavid was doing during that period of time. And then we reacquainted years later in, Ithink, 2000 when he was helping Bob Franks with his Senate campaign against JonCorzine. So we went 23 years without seeing each other, and in the years we did see

    each other, we passed in the hallways. So I want to clear that up. It doesn't make adifference except that I think some of the stories (that've been written imbued ?) like anemotional relationship and closeness between me and David that doesn't exist. I knowDavid and, you know, I knew that Bill Baroni wanted to hire David to come to the PortAuthority, and I gave my permission for him to do it, but that was Bill's hire. He askedfor permission, I gave my permission for him to hire David. But let's be clear about therelationship, OK?

    And how do I feel about David now? Listen, what I read yesterday makes me angry.That's the one bit of anger I felt. That language and that callous indifference in those

    emails from David yesterday, are just over the top and outrageous. It should never, everhave been written or uttered by somebody with a position of responsibility like that, andthose sentiments. So that's the way I feel about it, and thanks for the opportunity tofurther expound on my relationship.

    Q: Governor --

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Yeah, John (sp).

    Q: You said you haven't spoke with either Bridget Kelly or Bill Stepien. Why not --

  • 8/13/2019 Full transcript N.J. Gov. Chris Christies Jan. 9 news conference on George Washington Bridge scandal

    21/40

    GOV. CHRISTIE: I made my --

    Q: -- if you're going to get to the bottom of how much -- (off mic)?

    GOV. CHRISTIE: John (sp), I said I haven't spoken to them since I discovered theemails.

    But I spoke to them beforehand. And Bridget clearly did not tell me the truth. And Bill,you know, what he told me at the time is not contradicted by the emails, but the emailsand the coloring character of the emails has led -- have led me to conclude that I don'thave confidence in his judgement any longer. And that's why I asked him to move on,and he has.

    And so, you know, at this point, there are legislative hearings that are going to come andall the rest. And I don't want to get myself in the middle of that. Chairman Wisniewskisaid pretty clearly yesterday that he intends to ask Bridget Kelly and Bill Stepien totestify.

    And I don't -- my gut sense, John (sp), is that it wouldn't be appropriate for me to get inthe middle of that because then there would be all kinds of other allegations about thoseconversations. So I think the smarter thing for me to do is, as to those two folks who Imade determinations regarding their future, to move on from there and talk to otherfolks who are still in my employ.

    Q: Quick follow-up?

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Yeah.

    Q: There are other names in your inner circle who are in those emails, at least named or

    -- (inaudible). Are you confident -- and some fairly high up -- are you confident that theyare -- you know, they're -- (inaudible)?

    GOV. CHRISTIE: I believe -- I believe that I've spoken to everyone who was mentionedin the emails except for Charlie McKenna, who is away at a family funeral. And I amconfident, based upon my conversations with them, that they had no prior knowledgenor involvement in this situation.

    Q: What about -- what about the cover-up piece of this?

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Yeah, well, that's your characterization not mine. But there is nobodyon my staff who had any knowledge of this issue until after the issue was already done.

    Q: Can I follow-up?

    GOV. CHRISTIE: In the back, yes.

    Q: There are multiple reports that an elderly woman in -- (inaudible) -- died afteremergency -- (inaudible). What's your reaction?

    GOV. CHRISTIE: It's awful. Now, I've also seen conflicting reports about what thecause of death was and whatever, but it doesn't matter. It's awful to hear.

  • 8/13/2019 Full transcript N.J. Gov. Chris Christies Jan. 9 news conference on George Washington Bridge scandal

    22/40

    Q: (Off mic.)

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Listen, all I can do is apologize for the conduct of people who workedfor me. I can't do anything else. I can't reverse time. If I could, believe me, I would, butI'm just going to apologize. I think that's all you can do, and there's really nothing elseyou can do.

    David.

    Q: Governor, along the lines of doing the job as governor that you have said that you'refocused on -- regaining the trust of the people of New Jersey -- a lot of people are upsetabout this and shocked. The first couple of years you were governor, you did a lot oftown hall meetings. You traveled all over the state and spoke to people. Any thoughtabout possibly trying to do something like that again?

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Well, we clearly are going to do town halls in the second term, David.I think we suspended town halls during the campaign because of our concern that folks

    may raise the issue of, in the midst of a campaign, blurring the line between what wouldbe a town hall event and what would be a campaign event. And so during the campaign,we made the determination we weren't going to do town hall meetings as the campaignheated up to avoid that concern.

    And, you know, I certainly had no plans to do it during the transition -- I was trying toget through a transition. But we certainly intended to do town hall meetings in thesecond term and try to do, you know, hopefully as many as we did in the first term. Ienjoyed the town hall setting and process, and the fact is, David -- you know, I think -- Idon't believe I've lost the truth of the people of New Jersey.

    I think the people of New Jersey are looking to see, when mistakes are made, how theirleader is going to react. And I believe that when they see me take the action I'm takingtoday, that they'll say, mistakes were made, the governor had nothing to do with that, buthe's taking responsibility for it, and he's made the decisions that need to be made and haspromised us he'll continue to make those decisions if necessary going forward.

    Michael (sp).

    Q: Governor, two questions. Do you think David Wildstein should go before the -- (offmic) -- this afternoon and tell everything he knows?

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Listen, that's between David and his attorney. He's represented bycounsel now. I mean, I'd love to hear the whole story for my own purposes, but I can't,you know, advise them what to do. Someone who's represented by counsel is going tomake his own judgment.

    Q: You wouldn't encourage him to do that?

    GOV. CHRISTIE: I just did. I said I'd like to hear the story. But I don't want to be in theposition of instructing someone to do something because they're represented by counsel.He and his lawyer will determine what they believe is in their best interest. Certainly,

  • 8/13/2019 Full transcript N.J. Gov. Chris Christies Jan. 9 news conference on George Washington Bridge scandal

    23/40

    you know, hearing the story would be good for everybody.

    Q: Governor?

    Q: I have a follow-up, please. Who initiated this whole thing -- (off mic) --

    GOV. CHRISTIE: I don't know. I don't know. I mean, listen, up to this point in time, up

    till the emails released yesterday, it was Senator Baroni's testimony that Mr. Wildsteininitiated it at his approval -- with his approval. Now it -- you know, I don't know, givensome of the emails that I saw yesterday. But clearly, Mr. Wildstein played a major role init. Whether it was his idea in initiation, as Senator Baroni testified, I guess time will tell.But clearly, there was knowledge of this action, whatever it was, prior to the beginningof it with Bridget Kelly, and that was something that I said in direct answer to Angie's(sp) question a few weeks ago was not the case. That's what we were told after repeatedquestioning of all the people around here. And I was lied to. And for that, she's beenterminated.

    Q: Governor?GOV. CHRISTIE: Angie (sp).

    Q: Governor, as a U.S. attorney, you -- (off mic) --hundreds if not thousands of people.

    So how could you fail to get the truth from your own staff?

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Well, first off, I would love, Angie, for you and others to believe thatI interviewed hundreds, if not thousands, of people, as U.S. attorney. I did not. MyAUSAs interviewed hundreds, if not thousands, of people. I mean, it was the very rareoccasion when the U.S. attorney himself or herself goes into a room and interviews a

    witness. It probably happened a dozen times in seven years; it's a very rare occurrence.Angie, if you're -- try to understand this on a personal level. If you've worked withsomeone for five years and they've been a member of your political team and thengovernmental team, and you look at them and you say to them, what do you know aboutthis and did you have any involvement in it, did you have any knowledge of it, and theylook at you and they say, no, and you've had -- never had any reason before to believethat they were anything but a truth-teller, why wouldn't you believe them? I mean, Iwork on the basis of trust of people, and I assume, over a period of time, that mostpeople are trustworthy unless proven otherwise.

    And so when we asked those questions and we got those answers, there was no reason,at the time we asked the questions, for us to believe that they weren't true, based uponthe conduct of that person. I think, you know even if you look at some of the storiestoday written about Bridget Kelly, I don't think you've heard anybody in those storiestalk about her in any way but very positive ways, given her history here in the statehouseworking for the legislature.

    So I had no reason to believe that she was telling me anything other than the truth, andthat's why I used the phrase before that I was heartbroken, because I trusted that I was

  • 8/13/2019 Full transcript N.J. Gov. Chris Christies Jan. 9 news conference on George Washington Bridge scandal

    24/40

    being told the truth, and I wasn't. And I wasn't by somebody who I had placed asignificant amount of trust in.

    So, yeah, did I miss it? We missed it. I mean, that's why we're here, right? We missed it.But then what do you do when you find out you missed it? I found out at 9 -- a littlebefore 9 yesterday morning. By 9:00 this morning, her position was terminated. And I

    think that's swift, appropriate action that people would expect from the chief executiveof the state.

    Q: (Off mic.)

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Yeah.

    Q: The nature of Bridget's email, it sounded like they had a (pre-arranged -- (off mic).

    GOV. CHRISTIE: You know --

    Q: That when she said time for a traffic problem, he knew to (shut those down ?).

    GOV. CHRISTIE: I understand what you're saying. I can't read anything else into itbeyond -- I know you're inferring certain things from the email. I think that's areasonable inference, but I don't know. I don't know the answer. Because remember,when we asked questions, we didn't even know about the existence of the email. I foundthat out for the first time at 8:50 yesterday morning. And you can only imagine, as I wasstanding there in my bedroom with my iPad, looking at that, how incredibly sad andbetrayed I felt. And so I don't know what to say beyond that.

    Josh.

    Q: Governor, you were a U.S. attorney, very high profile, in fact investigated one

    governor -- (off mic) -- governor's office and a state party. You now are a governor whohas a U.S. attorney investigating people that were connected to your office. Whatinstructions are you giving, have you given to your staff? What will you do? And can weexpect to see claims of executive privilege and, no -- (off mic) -- you cannot havedocuments, or are you going to cooperate fully and very helpfully?

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Listen, I have absolutely nothing to hide. And I have not given anyinstruction to anyone yet, but my instruction to everybody will be to cooperate andanswer questions.

    I -- you know, Josh (sp), I have nothing to hide. So any questions anybody wants to ask

    me, they can ask, you know. From law enforcement, you know, anything they want toask, they can ask. So we have nothing to hide, and this administration has nothing tohide.

    Q: Governor --

    Q: Governor --

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Yeah, Bob (ph).

  • 8/13/2019 Full transcript N.J. Gov. Chris Christies Jan. 9 news conference on George Washington Bridge scandal

    25/40

    Q: In terms of -- it seems like your fact-finding is still getting some momentum. You'restill finding out what's going on. Do you think this could have an impact and you shouldput on hold -- (off mic) -- O'Dowd's nomination to be the attorney general since he wasthe chief of staff and would probably be involved in setting the tone?

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Oh, absolutely not. Kevin's, you know, confirmation hearing will go

    forward on Tuesday, and I expect, you know, he'll be vigorously questioned like anycandidate for attorney general should be, and I expect that he'll get swift and certainconfirmation because he deserves it.

    Elise (sp).

    Q: You mentioned this as we saw from the emails, that too much of this discussion wastaking place on private email accounts. Have you asked your staff to stopcommunicating government business on private email accounts?

    GOV. CHRISTIE: I have not. I hadn't thought about that yet, Elise. There's been a lot of

    things I've been thinking about. That wasn't one of them. I'll put it on my list to consider,but I haven't thought about it yet.

    Q: Have you read any other emails? Yesterday's emails were just a small amount -- (offmic) -- what's available.

    GOV. CHRISTIE: We've been given no documents, Elise (sp).

    Q: Have you requested any more documents?

    GOV. CHRISTIE: I don't know, but we certainly -- none were offered to us to review.And the first time we saw any documents was on the Bergen Record website yesterday

    morning, and we haven't been offered any.Charlie (ph)?

    Q: Bridget Kelly, did she have the authorization to carry out significant policy decisionssuch as an authorization of the governor's office -- (off mic) -- or funding without gettingprior approval from you or your senior staff -- (off mic) -- authorized to make thosedecisions?

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Listen, I don't -- I don't believe Bridget had policy authority on anyissue. Bridget's job was to interact with the other governmental agencies and to haveinteraction with members of the legislature. And that was her job.

    So my understanding of her authority was that she had no authority on policy, that policyissues had to be run through the chief of staff's office. And so no. You know, now, again,I know there are certain suppositions in that -- in that question, but my understanding ofBridget's authority was not that it extended to policy, no.

    Melissa (sp).

    Q: (Inaudible) -- supposition, or as a follow-up question, is that I believe there is --

  • 8/13/2019 Full transcript N.J. Gov. Chris Christies Jan. 9 news conference on George Washington Bridge scandal

    26/40

    (inaudible) -- that some share that they find it hard to believe that Bridget could be --would be making these kind of calls, making these kinds of decisions, as reflected in theemail that we saw yesterday, without prior approval, without the knowledge of seniorstaff.

    GOV. CHRISTIE: She had no prior approval. I mean, let's put aside the supposition. She

    had no prior approval from the chief of staff, who was her direct report. And she had noprior approval from the governor. She did not seek it. We weren't informed about it. Andso if she acted in a manner which exceeded her authority, which seems, you know, to bea possibility, you know, that's what she did. But I had no knowledge of this and neitherdid the chief of staff.

    Melissa (sp).

    Q: (Off mic.)

    GOV. CHRISTIE: I spoke to Mike last night. David, at that time, was considering

    whether or not to resign, and he made the determination the next day, in the meetingwith the administration to resign. But I don't believe, from my conversation with Mikelast night, that that was the main topic of the dinner that night, that the dinner was asocial dinner, not a professional dinner. Jenna?

    Q: I think he said that you would have -- (off mic) -- your intention at this point to get tothe bottom of why the lanes were ultimately closed?

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Well, to the extent I can, Jenna. I mean, from what I know, at thispoint, Mr. Baroni and Mr. Wildstein's position is that the lines were closed to do a trafficstudy. And I have heard nothing from them that changes their position. I now see emails

    which indicate that there is a political overtone to what went on. I don't know what thesituation is. I don't know whether -- like I said -- I think I answered this before -- I don'tknow whether this was some type of rogue political operation that morphed into a trafficstudy or a traffic study that morphed into an additional rogue political -- I don't know.

    Q: But you're trying to find out?

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Well, listen, to -- as best I can, but, you know, Mr. Wildstein isscheduled to testify, you know, at the legislature, so you know, it's not like he's availablefor interview. So, you know, I'm not going to -- as I said in response to a question overhere, I'm not going to get in the middle of the legislative process with people that they've

    already noticed to be witnesses. I think that would be inappropriate. Let them do theirjob, because if I did, then I'd be accused of trying to play around with testimony, whichI'm not going to get involved in.

    Marsha (sp)?

    Q: Governor, at one point -- (off mic) -- you questioned whether -- (off mic) --immediately have -- (off mic) -- going into the -- (off mic). Do you still believe that that-- (off mic)?

  • 8/13/2019 Full transcript N.J. Gov. Chris Christies Jan. 9 news conference on George Washington Bridge scandal

    27/40

    GOV. CHRISTIE: (Chuckles.) Listen. You think I'm suggesting any traffic studiesanytime soon? (Laughter.) Got to be getting me. I don't want a traffic study in front ofmy house, Marsha (sp). (Laughter.) I think I'm out of the traffic study business forcertain, never really in it and definitely don't want to be in it.

    Listen, I -- here's what we should do as a policy going forward. That should be left to the

    professional staff at the Port Authority and let the professional engineers and those folksdeal with whether those things should be done or not done. I'm pretty confident insaying that that is the current position of this administration.

    Luke (sp).

    Q: Moving forward, Speaker-elect Prieto indicated yesterday that the assembly'sinvestigation in this will continue. Do you believe that -- (inaudible) -- Wisniewski andfolks in legislature have the right to continue to look into this type of thing, or do youbelieve that they are looking to along with -- (inaudible) -- score political points --(inaudible)?

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Listen, I think they have every right to do what they're doing givenwhat was revealed yesterday. And so, you know, I'm certainly not going to question thatin terms of the right to conduct an investigation. I think given what was revealedyesterday, I was shocked by it, I assume they were too. And I have a good relationshipwith the incoming speaker, and I'll work with him in every way that I possibly can tomake sure that we put this matter to rest. So I certainly am not going to question theirright or their ability to do that, no.

    John (sp)?

    Q: Governor, you said you didn't seek the mayor's endorsement -- (off mic). Justwondering, in the course of the campaign, you're having these meetings where you wereactively seeking the support of many Democrats in the state. But when you have thesemeetings, and they say, you know, Governor's latest polling, here's your new ad, here'sthe update on the Democratic outreach -- did anyone say do you, well, the mayor of FortLee, he's -- (off mic)?

    GOV. CHRISTIE: He never -- his name was never mentioned to me.

    His position was never mentioned to me. When I say, John (sp), he was not on my radarscreen, that means he was not on my radar screen. I never had Bill Stepien or anybody

    else connected with the campaign even mention to me, like even an update, like, hey,we've had two meetings with the mayor; we think things are going well or we thinkthings are going poorly. I'd get those kind of updates. I never heard the Fort Lee mayor'sname, Mark Sokolich, his name, until all this stuff happened.

    And so he was not on my radar screen at all. Plenty of other mayors were. And a numberof them wound up endorsing us, and a number of them, I wound up having meetingswith like you're referencing. Mayor Sokolich -- not only did I never have a meeting with

  • 8/13/2019 Full transcript N.J. Gov. Chris Christies Jan. 9 news conference on George Washington Bridge scandal

    28/40

    him, he was never mentioned to me. That's why -- you know, you go back to thequestion over here about, you know, making a joke about this. That's part of the reason Ifelt comfortable doing it. Like, this can't have anything to do with politics. I don't evenknow this guy. How could it be that someone would be doing something like this againsta mayor that I never had any conversations with nor any sense that we were even

    seeking his endorsement?And so, you know, that's why this is such -- that's part of the reason this is such amystery to me, John (sp), and why I'm so upset about it.

    Q: That's what I'm trying to -- (off mic) -- somebody said, screw him or to hell with him-- (off mic) --

    GOV. CHRISTIE: I would have said, who's he?

    Q: (Off mic) -- wasn't you?

    GOV. CHRISTIE: No, I would have said, who's he? If somebody would have said

    something that to me I -- who's he and what did he do? I mean, I don't know this guy.Like I said, I may have met him in a greeting line or in a -- in a big Bergen County eventor at a town hall meeting or something. But I'm telling you, like, until yesterday when Isaw his picture on TV, I wouldn't have -- I -- if he walked in the room, I wouldn't havebeen able to pick him out.

    So that's not to diminish him in any way. It's just that in this context, this is not a guywho was on my radar screen in any way, nor was his name ever brought up to my by BillStepien until after the story started to appear about the Fort Lee traffic problem.

    And that's the first time that I heard about Mayor Sokolich. And so that's why, John (sp),

    it's such a mystery to me. And --

    Q: (Off mic) -- with Democrats?

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Sure. Of course I was, Kelly. But you know what? He wasn't one ofthem. He wasn't one of them. I mean, I'm happy to admit I that I was trying to run up thescore, absolutely. That's what you do in a political campaign, try to get as manysupporters, endorsers that turn into voters. That's part of your job.

    Q: It's individuals anyway, not a -- (inaudible). He did represent something you weretrying to get.

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Of course, but I had to go get it. Invariably in these things, Iultimately had to make a phone call or do something to bring the person over the finishline. It was the rare occurrence that I never met a person or spoke to them or had thatarrangement with them.

    So you know, my point to you is, this is -- I'm trying to give you context for why I didn'tthink this was an issue, because I know the campaign that we ran. I know who I waspursuing as endorsers. I know who was close and we didn't get. I know who was never

  • 8/13/2019 Full transcript N.J. Gov. Chris Christies Jan. 9 news conference on George Washington Bridge scandal

    29/40

    close or we were trying to get. And know the people we got.

    This guy never was on my radar screen. And I think he confirmed that last night bysaying he was never really -- he doesn't have any recollection of being even asked forthe endorsement. And that's -- you know, that's why I don't get this. But it is what it is.And I'm responsible for it.

    Regardless of all that, John (sp), I'm responsible for it. It happened on my watch. Andyou can't just say, well, listen, I didn't know about it so it's not my problem, go talk tosomebody else. The buck stops at my desk. And so I have to act.

    And I've acted as quickly as I could responsibly. I found out about this at 10 minutes to9:00 yesterday morning. By 9:00 this morning, Bridget Kelly was terminated. By 7:00p.m. last night, Bill Stepien was told to leave the organization and leave the RGA.

    So I think that's pretty swift action given that I really yesterday was blindsided by this.I'm not happy I was blindsided. I'm not proud I was blindsided. As I said when I came

    up here, I feel humiliated by this. I'm a person who cares deeply about doing my jobwell. I work extraordinarily hard at it. That's what I should do. I've taken an oath to thateffect. But I am humiliated by the fact that I did not know this and that I was deceived.And that's an awful way to feel.

    Q: Mr. Governor?

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Yeah.

    Q: One person who's very much -- (off mic) -- Senator Buono. And we talked to heryesterday. Some of the emails -- she was not happy -- (off mic) -- for example, whenthey -- one of the (texts ?) said -- (off mic) -- Buono's children -- (off mic) --

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Buono's supporters' children, yeah.

    Q: Yeah. So sort of two questions, her Justice Department investigation, but also, this is-- it raises serious questions about kids getting to school, about EMS response. Could I

    just get your thoughts, please, on how serious this was, just -- (off mic) --

    GOV. CHRISTIE: It wasn't good.

    Q: No.

    GOV. CHRISTIE: I mean, I think that's why I'm here apologizing. It's -- it was -- it was

    an awful, callous, indifferent thing to do. And if it was part of a traffic study, that's onething. Once it has political overtones, that's an entirely different matter. And that's why Iam upset about this. And that's why I apologized to the people of New Jersey today andwhy I apologized specifically to the people of Fort Lee who were inconvenienced overthose four days.

    It's not right, and that's why I'm here apologizing.

    Q: (Off mic.)

  • 8/13/2019 Full transcript N.J. Gov. Chris Christies Jan. 9 news conference on George Washington Bridge scandal

    30/40

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Well, I have no idea. And again, in -- I will respond to those questionsas I always have. As a former U.S. attorney, when I was U.S. attorney, I hated whenpoliticians stood behind podiums and told the Department of Justice what to do, and Iam not going to do that after complaining to my colleagues about it for seven yearswhen politicians would it. Now that I'm one of those, I'm not going to do that.

    Yes, sir.Q: Governor, you just said -- (off mic) -- I have nothing to hide, and then you repeated "Ihave nothing to hide."

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Right.

    Q: In your long public career at the U.S. Attorney's Office, first term as governor, secondterm now, did you ever imagine you'd stand in front of this many cameras and this manyreporters and have to say, I have nothing to hide?

    GOV. CHRISTIE: No.

    Q: (Off mic.)

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Yes. (Laughter.)

    Q: (Off mic.)

    GOV. CHRISTIE: That was -- that was a searing bit of commentary, wasn't it?(Laughter.)

    Q: Whoa!

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Brian (sp).

    Q: Governor, obviously this has been a traumatic experience. You said you got very littleif any sleep whatsoever last night. Did you ever for even a brief moment entertain theidea that perhaps you should resign?

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Oh, god, no. No. Brian, I mean, you know, listen. I know you'reasking. You know, I am -- I -- you know, I am -- I heard -- (off mic). That's a crazyquestion, man. I mean, I'm telling you: I had nothing to do with this. And so, you know,no. I never gave any thought to doing that at all, nor would I.

    What was I thinking about last night, when I couldn't go to sleep? How did this happen:That's what I was thinking about. You know, when -- sure. When you're responsible --

    and I spent a lot of time keeping Mary Pat up last night, talking me through it. Youknow, it's when it's great to have a really, you know, supportive spouse: She's willing todo four hours, too.

    But, you know, it -- that's what I was thinking: How did it happen and why do people dothis? I just don't get it. You know, you work really hard -- Brian (sp), I work hard at this

    job, and it's incredibly disappointing to have people let you down this way. I'mincredibly loyal to my people and I expect in return their honesty and their candor and

  • 8/13/2019 Full transcript N.J. Gov. Chris Christies Jan. 9 news conference on George Washington Bridge scandal

    31/40

    their loyalty, and I didn't get it. And it's a hard thing -- a hard thing after you work ashard as I do with them at it.

    But here's the thing: This is my job and there are going to be mistakes and there aregoing to be disappointments. I don't think there's a perfect government anywhere in thecountry, and I certainly never claimed to have one. I claimed to have the best

    government I could possibly make, but sometimes there are going to be mistakes, andwhen there are, I have to own up to them and take responsibility and act, and that's whatI've done today. And my promise to the people of the state is that if there's any otherevidence that comes forward that requires action to be taken, I will take it, no matterhow much it hurts me personally or dismays me, because this is the job I asked for andI've got to do it.

    Q: Governor --

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Yes, Luke (sp)?

    Q: There were some folks that raised an eyebrow -- (off mic) -- with Mr. Baroni'sresignation at the news conference where you had asked -- (off mic) -- replaced byDeborah Gramiccioni, but that was something that was in the works and that you weretrying to advance. Looking back on it now -- (off mic) -- clarify how that process playedout, do you think Mr. Baroni was jumping ship a little bit here, trying to get out -- (offmic) -- political -- were you guys moving to replace him before that news conference?

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Neither. As I said that day, I had made the determination during thefall campaign that I wanted to make a change at the Port Authority.

    Bill was one of the longest-serving deputy executive directors in recent history at four

    years, and I felt like it was time for a change. Part of that is evidenced by, like, myresponse to Josh's question about the internal workings. I mean, there's a lot of hand- to-hand combat over at the Port Authority -- legitimately so -- between New York and NewJersey about resources and whatever, and I think -- I thought, as I said at the time, thatfour years was enough for any one person. And so I had approached Deb Gramiccioniduring the fall campaign, who at the time was my policy chief, and said, I'm thinkingabout making a change at the Port Authority. Would you be willing to take the job if Iasked you? She said yes.

    And so from the fall campaign -- and I don't remember if it was September or October,

    but it was sometime before election day -- excuse me -- I had made that decision in myown mind. And very soon after the election, that was communicated to Bill Baroni. Sowhat we were doing was trying to figure out the timing of all that during the -- I wantedto get it done during the transition. I wanted Deb to finish some policy work that sheneeded to finalize for me, and I wanted Bill to have an appropriate period of time to beable to get himself ready to move on to his next opportunities. And so that's the way theprocess worked.

    And so it was neither Bill jumping ship nor us pushing for this reason, it was us saying,

  • 8/13/2019 Full transcript N.J. Gov. Chris Christies Jan. 9 news conference on George Washington Bridge scandal

    32/40

    hey, it's time to go. You've served four years, and I'd like to put someone else there. Andso all of that was very amicable at the time and something that, you know, he understoodto be such once Deb was willing to take the job.

    David.

    Q: Governor, a couple of hours after the story broke yesterday, the assembly

    transportation boss, Wisniewski, was discussing the fact that the more he learns aboutthis -- he's reading thousands of pages of documents -- the longer the list was growing ofpeople he would be thinking about issuing a subpoena to. And he was asked if that couldpossibly include you.

    And he said he had the authority to issue a subpoena to anybody who he needs to getinformation from. If you were to get a subpoena, for whatever reason, what would youdo?

    GOV. CHRISTIE: I'm not going to speculate on that.

    Matt?Q: Governor, the revealing nature of these emails made some of us wonder what else --what other emails -- (off mic). (Off mic) -- filed a number of requests for emails relatedto this, and they were told there was nothing available. And yet these emails that werereleased yesterday reveal that there -- (off mic) -- related to this issue. Is there a -- didyou know about that? Is there a transparency issue in general -- (off mic)?

    GOV. CHRISTIE: No. I -- A, I don't know about what you're talking about. This is thefirst I've heard of it. Second, I don't believe there is. We take these OPRA requests veryseriously. And we have a person dedicated in counsel's office to use to review these

    matters. And, you know, they have people inside the departments, the individualdepartments, to review OPRA matters. So, no, I don't think there is, Matt.

    I think in the main, you know, we've -- you know, we respond to these OPRA requestsappropriately under the law. That's my understanding from both my first chief counseland my second chief counsel. So I don't have any reason to believe otherwise.

    If there are sometimes -- I don't know the incident you're talking about, but if there aresometimes mistakes that are made or oversights, I'm sure that can happen, but no, there'sno pattern or conduct of that. I mean, it's the law. We have to comply with it, and wecomply with the law as written.

    Governor.

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Yeah, (Kathleen ?).

    Q: Governor, I'm wondering when you were first called for comment on the story, andwhether you think this will affect your ability at the -- (off mic).

    GOV. CHRISTIE: When was I first called for comment? I have no idea because I don'tget those calls directly, so I didn't -- I don't know.

  • 8/13/2019 Full transcript N.J. Gov. Chris Christies Jan. 9 news conference on George Washington Bridge scandal

    33/40

    Secondly, no, it won't affect my ability to work at the RGA at all, no.

    Q: Governor --

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Yeah.

    Q: -- throughout this entire press conference you've said that you're a loyal person, you

    expect loyalty, and you fired this person on your staff because she lied. Are you thevictim here, or is -- are the people of Fort Lee the victim? Should she have been firedbecause she ordered a traffic study that messed up traffic and put people in danger inthat sense --

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Well, first of all -- first of all, I don't know that she ordered a trafficstudy. I know what I might infer and you might infer from that. As I said earlier, we'regoing to have to find who actually was --

    Q: (Off mic) -- traffic problems.

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Well, I -- that's not what you asked, though, OK? I'm telling you that

    when I ask for an answer from a member of my staff and they lie, regardless of what theconduct is they lied about, they're gone. So I never had to get to the conduct, theunderlying conduct. If you lie when I ask you a question, you're fired. That's it.

    Now if I had to have gotten to the underlying conduct, there was plenty underlyingconduct there to fire her on too. But I didn't need to get there, because question one was,do you know anything about this, did you have any involvement in it? The answer wasno. The email's evidence that the answer should have been yes. I needed to go no furtherthan that in terms of making a determination about her future employment with me.

    Q: Governor Christie, but one of the things is that in terms of a lying standpoint, thevery person who has probably these most information about why she did this is the veryperson you cut off communication with. Isn't that a management mistake?

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Are you suggesting I should have kept her?

    Q: Well, I'm saying talk to her. I mean, in terms of the conversation, like why did you dothis? Get some information.

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Listen, Bob, and then if I did that, then you'd have the legislaturecomplaining that I'm talking to someone who the chairman has said yesterday publiclyhe intends to call as a witness.

    And I think the higher priority is for me not to interfere with what the legislature is inthe process of doing. And so no, I'm not going to do that because then -- listen, thepolitical nature of this would lead charge -- to charges of interference. I'm not going todo that. If after -- if she's brought to testify there, which the chairman says he intends todo, and she testifies, if after that time I have -- we have other questions, then we canmake the decision at that time whether to pursue that information. But it is my judgment-- you can disagree with it, but it's my judgment that for me to get involved with

  • 8/13/2019 Full transcript N.J. Gov. Chris Christies Jan. 9 news conference on George Washington Bridge scandal

    34/40

    someone who the chairman has said he's going to call as a witness between the time Idiscovered this and the time that she may testify would be not the right thing for me todo.

    Q: Like tampering with a witness -- (inaudible)?

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Well, I've certainly wouldn't tamper with a witness. (Laughter.) But I

    could be accused of tampering with the witness --

    Q: (Inaudible) -- something though about -- (inaudible) -- what point does politicalmisconduct cross into criminality?

    GOV. CHRISTIE: I don't know, Bob (sp), you know. And the fact of the matter is I've --the best way for me to not involve myself in that is to not involve myself in that. AndI'm just trying to be a safe and careful steward of the public trust. And would I love tohave more information yesterday? You bet. But I also have to understand the position Ihold. And it's a position of extraordinary trust. And I have to execute that position with

    the acknowledgement of that trust. And so that's why I'm not doing it.Q: Governor -- (inaudible) --

    GOV. CHRISTIE: No. You.

    Q: It is no secret -- (off mic) -- how could staff -- (off mic)?

    GOV. CHRISTIE: I didn't quite understand you question. Could you repeat it? I hadtrouble hearing you, too.

    Q: It wasn't a -- I mean --

    GOV. CHRISTIE: He -- it wasn't a surprise it was subpoenaing it.

    I didn't get the last part.

    Q: (Off mic.)

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Because we didn't have the documents.

    Q: (Off mic.)

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Well, we asked Bridget Kelly. She told us she didn't have any. Weasked her if she was involved. She said she was not. We asked if she had any knowledgeof it. She said she didn't. That's why I was surprised. I was surprised because I was told

    there was nothing there and then there was. I mean, you know, this is not a -- in thatsense, it's not a mystery.

    If you ask for something and someone deceives you and tells you it doesn't exist, what'sthe follow-up? Are you sure? Yes. You've searched your emails? Yes. You don't haveanything? No. OK. Were you involved in any way? No. Any knowledge? No. Well, afterthat, what do you do?

    Q: (Off mic.)

  • 8/13/2019 Full transcript N.J. Gov. Chris Christies Jan. 9 news conference on George Washington Bridge scandal

    35/40

    GOV. CHRISTIE: You'd have to ask them. I don't know.

    Q: (Off mic.)

    GOV. CHRISTIE: I don't think so. I don't think so.

    Q: Governor, were you -- (inaudible) -- break anything?

    GOV. CHRISTIE: No. (Laughs.)

    Q: (Off mic.)

    GOV. CHRISTIE: I -- yeah, I know. Listen, I know you guys would love that if Iactually did. I told you, I'm not to that stage yet. I'm sure I might get to the stage whereI'm angry. I don't break things.

    Q: You weren't yelling at people who --

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Oh, gosh, no. Look, you need to understand this. I am standing hereresolved to do my job and do what I'm supposed to do. But I am a very sad person today.

    That's the emotion I feel. A person close to me betrayed me, a person who I counted onand trusted for five years betrayed me. A person who I gave a high government office tobetrayed me. I probably will get angry at some point, but I got to tell you the truth.

    I'm sad. I'm a sad guy standing here today, and very disappointed. And that's theoverriding emotion. Someone asked me that before. That's the overriding emotion. And Iknow that because of my bluntness and my directness, that people think, well, of coursehe must get behind that door and be a lunatic when he's mad about something. If youasked this staff, it is the rare moment in this office when I raise my voice, the raremoment when I raise my voice. I reserve it for very special times.

    And I will tell you the last time I did. Four weeks ago, when I had them all in that officeand I said, if any of you have any information about this that I don't know, you need totell me, Kevin or Charlie now. That was the last time I raised my voice in that office.And so, no, I didn't break anything. I didn't yell and scream. I didn't curse anybody out.It's a sad day for me. And I'm doing what I'm obligated to do under this job, because it'sthe right thing to do, and I'm doing it. But it doesn't make me angry at the moment. It

    just makes me sad.

    Q: (Off mic) -- none of them talked to you and said, Governor, you're about to getwhacked?

    GOV. CHRISTIE: No.

    Q: Not even David Wildstein? He didn't say, oh, my god, you wouldn't believe what --(off mic)?

    GOV. CHRISTIE: I have had no contact with David Wildstein in a long time, a longtime, well before the election. You know, I could probably count on one hand thenumber of conversations I've had with David since he worked at the Port Authority. I did

  • 8/13/2019 Full transcript N.J. Gov. Chris Christies Jan. 9 news conference on George Washington Bridge scandal

    36/40

    not interact with David.

    If David would be here for a meeting in the State House and I ran into him, we'd say,hello, how's your family? We'd chat. We didn't have that kind of relationship. Iunderstand the way it's been characterized in the press -- you know, high-level appointee-- well, yes, he had an important job but he was not interacting with the governor on any

    regular basis. There were channels to go through here. And he and Bill Baroni wentthrough those channels, and if something had to be brought to my attention -- I don'teven remember in the last four years even having a meeting in my office with DavidWildstein. I may have, but I don't remember it. Bill Baroni yes, but David no.

    So no, nobody called and told me anything. I'm telling you, at 8:50 yesterday morning --I got done with my workout at 8:45. My trainer left. I'm getting ready to get in theshower and at 8:50 Maria Comella called me and told me about the breaking BergenRecord story, and that was the first I knew of any of the emails or the information thatwas contained in that story.

    Q: (Off mic.)

    GOV. CHRISTIE: No, I was at -- (inaudible) -- yesterday.

    Kelli (sp)?

    Q: (Off mic) -- that these people with emails -- (off mic). These emails say that they tookaction in front of your constituents to try to -- (off mic). They focused on the -- (off mic)-- but they did something that conned your constituents.

    GOV. CHRISTIE: Yeah, that's why I apologized to them, Kelli (sp).

    Q: Is your credibility -- (off mic)?GOV. CHRISTIE: No, I don't think it's my credibility. I mean, I think, Kelli (sp), if Ididn't stand up and take responsibility and apologize dire