President Trump on Monday did not rule out the possibility of launching a criminal probe into his ally-turned-critic, Chris Christie, for his connection to the 2013 “Bridgegate” scandal.
Speaking to reporters, Trump continued his attacks on the former New Jersey governor, who Trump said he “always felt” was guilty for his alleged role in the political retribution plot.
“Look, Chris is a slob. Everybody knows it,” Trump said, when asked whether he plans on investigating Christie, as he threatened Sunday in a post on Truth Social.
“I know Chris better than anybody in the room,” Trump continued, addressing the reporters. “I always felt he was guilty, but what he did is he took the George Washington bridge, which is very serious. He closed down the George Washington Bridge.”
“Obviously he knew about it, but he blamed the young lady that worked for him and another person, and they got into a lot of trouble,” Trump added.
Christie was never charged in the 2013 scandal, which saw two of Christie’s allies convicted and sentenced to prison for their role in a scheme to punish a local Democratic mayor who refused to back Christie’s reelection bid. The aides were accused of closing lanes on the George Washington Bridge to create traffic problems for the mayor of Fort Lee, N.J.
The Supreme Court ultimately threw out their convictions, ruling unanimously that the scheme involved deception and corruption, but did not violate federal law.
Prosecutors never sought criminal charges against Christie, saying they could not prove criminal misconduct “beyond a reasonable doubt” and could not prove Christie knew about the lane closures. Christie consistently maintained his innocence.
Trump on Sunday raised the possibility of a criminal probe after watching Christie, a vocal critic of the president’s, appear on a Sunday show.
Trump, in remarks Monday, recalled watching Christie “speak his hate” on television.
“When I listen to Chris speak his hate, I say, ‘Oh, what about the George Washington Bridge? You know, tell me about the George Washington Bridge.’ He blamed other people, but he knew all about it,” Trump said.
Trump did not rule out a possible probe, saying on Monday that the decision would be Attorney General Pam Bondi’s to make.
“So no, I don’t know. If they want to look at it, it’s not for me. If they want to look at it, they can. You can ask Pam, I think we have other things to do, but I always thought he got away with murder,” Trump said.
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