Christie's Chief Of Staff In Court: 'I Had No Prior Knowledge' Of GW Bridge Lane Closures
By Cleve Bryan
TRENTON, NJ (CBS) – Governor Chris Christie's Chief of Staff Kevin O'Dowd testified before the legislative committee investigating lane closures at the George Washington Bridge that he had nothing to do with it.
"I had no prior knowledge or played no role in the decision to close the lanes at the bridge last September," O'Dowd began his testimony with a prepared statement.
As Chief of Staff O'Dowd was supervisor to Bridget Kelly – the former Christie staffer accused of conspiring with Port Authority appointee David Wildstein to cause a traffic jam in Fort Lee, NJ last September as some kind of political retribution against the town's mayor.
Christie looked to O'Dowd last December to question Kelly when reporters wouldn't drop the issue.
"The governor said something to the effect of 'Kevin this bridge issue is still out there. All the noise about politics and political retribution, this is a major distraction'," said O'Dowd.
O'Dowd says Kelly denied involvement but later gave him an email showing she knew what was going on as it was happening.
