Law firm that exonerated Chris Christie donated to Christie-led group

The law firm that cleared Gov. Chris Christie, R-N.J., of wrongdoing in the George Washington Bridge scandal donated $10,000 to the political group heleads, nine days before the firm's internal review of the scandal was released.

The firm, Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, was hired by Christie to investigate and determine whether the governor had any involvement in planning or executing the lane closures that appear to have been ordered by his staff. Ultimately, the review concluded that the governor "had no knowledge beforehand."

On March 18, the firm donated $10,000 to the Republican Governors Association (RGA), a group that Christie chairs and done extensive fundraising for,the Bergen Record reported Wednesday.

The newspaper notes that the California office of the law firm is a regular contributor to the group and that a partner sits on an RGA leadership committee. They did not donate to the Democratic Governors Association in 2012, 2013 or 2014.

The news comes just a day after Christie backed the idea of allowing donors to give unlimited amounts of money to candidates as long as the information is publicly reported in a timely manner.

"So if somebody wants to write me a $100,000 check for my campaign, great," he said at a town hall meeting in Somerset, N.J. "But 48 hours later, everybody who has the Internet will know that Mr. Smith gave me a $100,000 check."

The Supreme Court recently struck down overall campaign contribution limits for individuals, but left limits in place for contributions to candidates ($2,600), national political parties ($32,400) and political committees ($5,000).