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About the project

The stories

The indicted

The indicted

The inner circle

The attorneys

The politicians

The investigators

The Port Authority

Paul Nunziato

Chip Michaels

David Wildstein

Chris Christie

Bridget Anne Kelly

Matt Mowers

Mark Sokolich

Bill Stepian

Randy Mastro

Governor’s campaign

Kevin O’Dowd

Mouse over photos to see how key players are connected.Click on a photo for an explanation of the connections

How key players are connected

Office of the Governor

Michael Drewniak

Port Authority

Regina Egea

Other

Philip Kwon

Bill Baroni

David Samson

Bill BaroniChristie’s two top executives at the Port Authority, Baroni and Wildstein worked closely together.

David SamsonAfter lane closings were ended, Wildstein wrote to a Christie staffer: “Samson helping us to retaliate.”

Bridget  Anne Kelly Kelly sent Wildstein the email, “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee.”

Chip MichaelsMichaels gave him tour of traffic on first day of closures and texted him: “Local ft lee traffic disaster.”

Michael  Drewniak Onetime friends, he often sought Drewniak’s advice. The two had dinner days before Wildstein’s resignation.

Paul Nunziato Close friends with Port Authority police union leader Nunziato and pushed for union endorsement.

Chris ChristieBoth attended Livingston High School, a year apart. Wildstein pushed Christie’s agenda at the Port Authority.

David WildsteinDavid Wildstein, formerly a high-ranking Port Authority executive and fierce advocate of the Christie administration, ordered the closing of two of three access lanes from Fort Lee to the George Washington Bridge. 

Mark SokolichGave Sokolich and his family a tour of the 9/11 memorial plaza.

Bill Stepien Both worked on former Rep. Bob Franks’ 2000 Senate campaign with Bill Baroni.

Chris ChristieChristie’s two-time campaign manager and a trusted political adviser. 

Matt MowersMowers volunteered for Christie’s reelection campaign, led by Stepien, and pursued Sokolich endorsement.

Mark SokolichCalled Sokolich “an idiot” in an email after mayor said he thought lane closures could be punitive. 

Bill BaroniBaroni sent Stepien the Fort Lee mayor’s complaints during the lane closures.

Bill Stepien Bill Stepien has a long history in New Jersey politics and is a nationally respected operative who helped set up Governor Christie for his landslide reelection victory. Coming off that win, Christie named Stepien as his choice for chairman of the state Republican Party. At the time, Christie called him “the best Republican operative in the country.”

Bridget Anne Kelly Kelly replaced Stepien as a Christie deputy chief of staff in April 2013. The two had a brief “personal relationship.”

David Wildstein Both worked on former Rep. Bob Franks’ 2000 Senate campaign with Bill Baroni.

Bill BaroniIgnored Sokolich’s calls for help during lane closings and called him “Serbia” with Christie allies.

Mark Sokolich A real estate attorney and since 2007 the mayor of Fort Lee, he was the first to ask whether the September 2013 lane closings at the George Washington Bridge involved political retaliation – against him. Sokolich, a Democrat, had declined to endorse Governor Christie.

Bridget  Anne Kelly Before ordering up “traffic problems,” Kelly asked another Christie aide if Sokolich had endorsed Christie.

David Wildstein Gave Sokolich and his family a tour of the 9/11 memorial plaza.

Matt MowersMowers pursued Sokolich’s endorsement for Christie’s reelection campaign.

Bill StepienCalled Sokolich “an idiot” in an email after mayor said he thought lane closures could be punitive. 

Randy Mastro Before investigating lane closures, hired by Port Authority to defend a lawsuit over its 2011 toll hikes.

Bill BaroniSamson was in charge of policy at Port Authority and Baroni ran the agency’s day-to-day operations. 

David Samson A onetime mentor to Governor Christie, David Samson resigned as chairman of the Port Authority in the aftermath of the lane-closure scandal, amid intensifying scrutiny of his private business interests. Samson, a former New Jersey attorney general, is the founding partner of the powerful law firm Wolff & Samson.

David Wildstein After lane closings were ended, Wildstein wrote to a Christie staffer: “Samson helping us to retaliate.”

Chris ChristieOne of Christie’s closest advisors, counsel to his first gubernatorial campaign and headed transition team.

Kevin O’DowdKevin O’Dowd has served as Governor Christie’s chief of staff since 2012, joining the administration in 2010 as deputy chief counsel. O’Dowd spent seven years working in the U.S. Attorney’s Office, a job he started in 2003 when Christie was the U.S. attorney for New Jersey.

Chris ChristieProsecutor under Christie when he was U.S. attorney, served as Christie’s chief of staff and counsel.

Bridget  Anne Kelly Kelly’s boss, O’Dowd testified he gave her “the benefit of the doubt“ about prior knowledge of lane closings.

Bill BaroniDuring now-discredited testimony, said the idea for the traffic study originated with Nunziato.

Paul Nunziato Paul Nunziato originally took credit for the idea of closing the Fort Lee access lanes at the George Washington Bridge, repeating agency officials’ assertions that it all started with a traffic study.

David Wildstein Close friends with Port Authority police union leader Nunziato and pushed for union endorsement.

Chip MichaelsMichaels and Nunziato are both officers for the Port Authority Police.

Chris ChristieHead of police union that endorsed Christie for reelection in 2013.

Bill StepienMowers volunteered for Christie’s reelection campaign, led by Stepien, and pursued Sokolich endorsement.

Matt Mowers As a Rutgers University student, Matt Mowers joined Governor Christie’s first campaign for governor. Now, Mowers has moved on to New Hampshire, where he is executive director of that state GOP, a key position should Christie decide to run for president in 2016.

Mark SokolichMowers pursued Sokolich’s endorsement for Christie’s reelection campaign.

Bridget  Anne Kelly Mowers told Mastro report authors that Kelly had an “authority complex.”

David Wildstein Michaels gave him tour of traffic on first day of closures and texted him: “Local ft lee traffic disaster.”

Chip MichaelsSeveral years Christie’s junior at Livingston High School, he joined the Port Authority Police in 1998 and was considered a low-key but a good cop. He was promoted to lieutenant in 2011, a year after Wildstein, also a Livingston graduate, joined the Port Authority.

Paul NunziatoMichaels and Nunziato are both officers for the Port Authority Police.

Chris Christie Sent message saying lane closings a “Local ft lee traffic disaster,” grew up in Christie’s hometown of Livingston. 

Chris ChristieHired by Christie to do an investigation that found the governor had no prior knowledge of the lane closures.

David Samson Before investigating lane closures, hired by Port Authority to defend a lawsuit over its 2011 toll hikes.

Randy MastroRandy Mastro, a partner at a law firm hired by the Christie administration to conduct a review of his office, issued a report that concluded the governor had no prior knowledge of the lane closures.

Bill BaroniKwon helped prepare Baroni for his now-discredited testimony before state lawmakers.

Chris Christie Appointed as a Port Authority attorney after he failed to win confirmation to state Supreme Court.

Philip KwonChristie’s onetime appointee for the state Supreme Court, he failed to win confirmation from the state Senate. He was then appointed to serve as an attorney at the Port Authority. He counseled Bill Baroni prior to Baroni’s testimony before a legislative committee that was probing the lane closures.

Bridget Anne KellyOnce a relatively low-profile staff member in Governor Christie’s office, Bridget Anne Kelly is now a central figure in the lane-closure scandal, best known for the eight-word email she sent to a Port Authority executive in August 2013: “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee.”

Mark Sokolich Before ordering up “traffic problems,” Kelly asked another Christie aide if Sokolich had endorsed Christie.

Chris ChristieHelped run Christie’s Bergen County phone-bank in 2009 and later hired as director of legislative relations.

Matt MowersMowers told Mastro report authors that Kelly had an “authority complex.”

Kevin O’DowdKelly’s boss, O’Dowd testified he gave her “the benefit of the doubt“ about prior knowledge of lane closings.

David Wildstein Kelly sent Wildstein the email, “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee.”

Bill Stepien Kelly replaced Stepien as a Christie deputy chief of staff in April 2013. The two had a brief “personal relationship.”

Bill BaroniEgea helped prepare Baroni for his now-discredited testimony before state lawmakers. 

Regina EgeaRegina Egea’s role as director of the authorities unit in Governor Christie’s office has put her at the center of the scandal that has clouded his second term in office. She began working with Christie in 2009, serving as a policy adviser to his gubernatorial campaign. 

Chris ChristieMonitored the Port Authority for Christie, deleted a text she had sent to the governor in December.

David Weinstein Onetime friends, he often sought Drewniak’s advice. The two had dinner days before Wildstein’s resignation.

Michael Drewniak Thrust into the center of the lane-closure scandal in January when a series of expletive-laced emails he had written were released by the legislative panel investigating the incident, he joined Christie’s ranks when he left a newspaper reporting job to work for him in the U.S. Attorney’s Office in 2002.

Chris Christie A close advisor, worked as Christie’s spokesman for more than 12 years.

Bill BaroniSent message to David Wildstein: “Jesus, Call Drewniak,” when reporters began questioning lane closings.

Philip KwonAppointed as a Port Authority attorney after he failed to win confirmation to state Supreme Court.

Randy MastroHired by Christie to do an investigation that found the governor had no prior knowledge of the lane closures.

David SamsonOne of Christie’s closest advisors, counsel to his first gubernatorial campaign and headed transition team.

Bridget  Anne Kelly Helped run Christie’s Bergen County phone-bank in 2009 and later hired as director of legislative relations.

Chip MichaelsSent message saying lane closings a “Local ft lee traffic disaster,” grew up in Christie’s hometown of Livingston. 

Chris ChristieGovernor, former U.S. Attorney

Michael Drewniak A close advisor, worked as Christie’s spokesman for more than 12 years.

Bill Stepien Christie’s two-time campaign manager and a trusted political adviser. 

Regina EgeaMonitored the Port Authority for Christie, deleted a text she had sent to the governor in December.

Paul Nunziato Head of police union that endorsed Christie for reelection in 2013.

Kevin O’Dowd Prosecutor under Christie when he was U.S. attorney, served as Christie’s chief of staff and counsel.

David WeinsteinBoth attended Livingston High School, a year apart. Wildstein pushed Christie’s agenda at the Port Authority.

Regina EgeaEgea helped prepare Baroni for his now-discredited testimony before state lawmakers. 

Philip Kwon Kwon helped prepare Baroni for his now-discredited testimony before state lawmakers.

Bill Stepien  Baroni sent Stepien the Fort Lee mayor’s complaints during the lane closures.

Michael DrewniakSent message to David Wildstein: “Jesus, Call Drewniak,” when reporters began questioning lane closings.

Mark SokolichIgnored Sokolich’s calls for help during lane closings and called him “Serbia” with Christie allies.

David SamsonSamson was in charge of policy at Port Authority and Baroni ran the agency’s day-to-day operations. 

David WeinsteinChristie’s two top executives at the Port Authority, Baroni and Wildstein worked closely together.

Bill Baroni Baroni is a former New Jersey Republican state senator who, as a state lawmaker, was respected on both sides of the political aisle. Christie appointed him to his Port Authority position in 2010. In March, Baroni began working at the Princeton-based law firm of Hill Wallack.

Paul Nunziato  During now-discredited testimony, said the idea for the traffic study originated with Nunziato.

Select a year or use the Next and Back arrows, at right, to navigate the timeline.

2014

2016

2013

2015

Key events

It started with traffic cones and developed into a full-fledged scandal that garnered international headlines and threatened to dim Gov. Chris Christie's political prospects. What follows are the key developments in the George Washington Bridge lane-closure scandal, based on sworn testimony before a state legislative panel, documents, and transcripts from an investigative report commissioned by Christie's office.

Sept. 13

Dec.12

Sept.10

Dec.5

Sept.11

Dec.6

Sept.6

Kelly

Nov.25

Aug. 12, 2013Gov. Christie’s deputy chief of staff, Bridget Anne Kelly, calls another Christie aide to confirm that Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich, a Democrat, will not endorse the governor for re-election. Once it is confirmed, Kelly says, “Good, that’s all I needed to know.”

Dec.2

Sept.9

Aug. 12

Aug. 13

Nov.5

Oct.16

Dec.13

Sokolich

Dec.19

Sept.12

Dec.9

Aug. 13, 2013  Kelly sends an email to Port Authority executive and Christie ally David Wildstein: “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee.” He replies: “Got it.”

Sept. 6, 2013 Wildstein instructs Port Authority  workers to prepare to close two access  lanes from Fort Lee to the George  Washington Bridge. He tells them not to  inform Fort Lee police or local officials  beforehand. One Port Authority  executive, Cedrick Fulton, warns  Wildstein, “This will not end well.”

Fulton

Wildstein

Sept. 9, 2013  Two access lanes to the George Washington Bridge are closed, causing massive tie-ups in Fort Lee on the first day of school. The Fort Lee mayor gets no reply when he calls Christie’s top executive at the Port Authority, Bill Baroni, about an “urgent matter of  public safety.” 

Sept. 10, 2013 Wildstein tells Kelly about the Fort Lee mayor’s complaints. Kelly responds: “Is it wrong that I'm smiling?” In a text message, Kelly tells Wildstein she feels bad for the kids on delayed school buses. Wildstein responds that they are the “children of Buono voters,” a reference to Barbara Buono, Christie’s opponent in the gubernatorial election.

Sept. 11, 2013 Wildstein and Christie are photographed together at an event in lower Manhattan to mark the anniversary of the Sept. 11 attacks. Later, Wildstein tells others that he informed the governor of the lane closures at this event.

Sept. 12, 2013In response to inquiries by The Record, Wildstein emails Kelly and Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak with a statement to be released to the newspaper that the closings are part of a review of “traffic safety patterns.” 

Sept. 13, 2013 Pat Foye, the executive director of the Port Authority appointed by New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo orders the lanes reopened after first learning about them from The Record’s inquiry. He writes in an internal memo later leaked to the media that he believes the closings  were potentially illegal.

Weinberg

Oct. 16, 2013New Jersey Senate Majority Leader Loretta Weinberg attends a Port Authority board meeting and questions the public explanation for the closings. Christie aide Regina Egea attends the meeting and writes in an email to other staffers that “Questions ensued on Fort Lee but holding to script ‘all under review.’ ”

Nov. 5, 2013 Christie wins re-election by a landslide. 

Nov. 25, 2013 Port Authority executive Bill  Baroni testifies in front of a  state legislative panel that  the closings were part of a  “traffic study” to evaluate the  fairness of devoting three  local access lanes to Fort  Lee. Christie staffers help  Baroni prepare for his  testimony.

Dec. 2, 2013 Christie responds with  sarcasm when asked if  he had anything to do  with the closings: "I moved  the cones, actually,  unbeknownst to everybody.”  And he says the so-called  traffic study was warranted. 

Drewniak

Dec. 5, 2013 At a private dinner meeting, Wildstein tells a Christie aide that he had informed Christie about the traffic study on Sept. 11 – the third day of the lane closings – when they both attended the memorial event. The aide, Michael Drewniak, later tells the governor about his conversation with Wildstein, and Christie responds that he doesn’t remember hearing about such a study. Wildstein also tells Drewniak that Kelly and former Christie campaign manager Bill Stepien knew about the closings.

Dec. 6, 2013 Wildstein announces he will resign from the Port Authority at the end of the year. The governor’s office releases a statement praising his work as a “tireless advocate” for New Jersey. 

Dec. 9, 2013 Foye tells a state legislative committee, under oath, that there never was a traffic study by the Port Authority, disputing Baroni's earlier statements.

Foye

Dec. 12, 2013 A Christie staffer, Deb Gramiccioni, tells Christie about rumors within the office that there are emails confirming Kelly’s knowledge of the closings. She later says that Christie “appeared visibly upset.”

Gramiccioni

Baroni

Christie

Dec. 13, 2013 Christie announces Wildstein will leave immediately and Baroni is resigning. He says the closings were “absolutely, unequivocally not” retaliation against Sokolich. And he says he has “spoken to everyone on my staff” to ask if they knew about the closings “and they told me no.” 

Christie

Dec. 19, 2013 Christie again says the closings weren’t politically motivated, adding Sokolich was not “someone who was on our radar screen as a potential endorsement.” 

Sokolich

Nov.13

July17

Jan.8

Jan.31

Feb.19

March27

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May13

Feb.16

Feb.27

March28

Dec.27

April9

Sept.3

Jan. 8, 2014 The Record is the first  to report Kelly’s Aug. 13 “Time for some traffic  problems in Fort Lee”  email. 

Dec.4

Jan.9

Jan.16

Jan. 9, 2014 Christie holds a marathon  news conference at which  he announces that he has  fired Kelly and severed ties  with Stepien. He also  repeatedly apologizes to the  public and promises a top-to- bottom investigation of his administration. U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman announces that his office will review the GWB lane closures. Wildstein appears before a state legislative committee investigating the closures and invokes the Fifth Amendment.

Mastro

Jan. 16, 2014 Christie announces that Manhattan attorney Randy Mastro and his firm, Gibson, Dunn, & Crutcher, have been hired to conduct an internal investigation. 

Jan. 31, 2014 Wildstein’s attorney writes in a letter that “evidence exists ... tying Mr. Christie to having knowledge of the lane closures, during the period when the lanes were closed, contrary to what the Governor stated publicly in a two-hour press conference.”

Wildstein

Port Authority police in Fort Lee on Sept. 9, 2013

Feb. 16, 2014 Lawmakers investigating the lane closures question why Port Authority police were telling motorists to take  their traffic complaints to the mayor  of Fort Lee.

Jan.10

Feb. 19, 2014 Port Authority Chairman David Samson apologizes on behalf of the agency’s commissioners “for inconvenience caused to our travelers.”

Samson

Feb. 27, 2014 New text messages released by the legislative investigative committee highlight how officials who had knowledge of the disruption were joking about the problems that were caused.

March 27, 2014 A report by attorney Randy Mastro, and commissioned by Christie, at a cost in excess of $3 million, finds that Christie had no knowledge of the closures and lays blame on Kelly and Wildstein.

Samson

Critchley

March 28, 2014 Port Authority chairman David Samson resigns. Kelly attorney Michael Critchley attacks the Mastro report, calling it a “preemptive strike to isolate” his client.

Stepien

Kelly

April 9, 2014 A judge in Mercer County rules that Stepien and Kelly can assert their Fifth Amendment rights in response to subpoenas issued by the legislative investigative committee.

May 13, 2014 Drewniak testifies before the legislative investigative committee, saying that members of the Christie administration were slow to react to the lane closures because they were betrayed by Wildstein.

July 17, 2014 Fishman says that his investigation is continuing but that reports of imminent indictments are wrong. The legislative committee vows to continue its investigation. Christie aide Regina Egea, the fifth person to testify before lawmakers, says she did not tell the governor the previous September when she found out that Pat Foye, New York’s top exective at the Port Authority, had reversed the lane closures and called them potentially illegal. She said she attributed the allegations to infighting at the Port Authority.

Egea

Fishman

Sept. 3, 2014Documents obtained by The Record provide new details about the recollections of cops stationed at the bridge during the lane closures. One of the accounts, provided by a lawyer for the officer to an attorney assisting the legislative inquiry, describes the officer’s attempts to get the lanes re-opened on the second day of the closures because  he said they were creating “hazardous conditions.” The officer said a police supervisor told him to “shut up,” and later instructed him not to discuss the apparently secret operation over an open radio channel.

Nov. 13, 2014Kevin O’Dowd, Christie’s chief of staff and the senior aide who first questioned the governor’s staff about the lane closures, resigns after his nomination to become attorney general stalled for nearly a year while lawmakers raised questions about his “lack of curiosity.” O’Dowd became an administrator at a hospital in South Jersey.

O’Dowd

Dec. 4, 2014An interim report summarizing a year-long investigation by the legislative panel examining the lane closures says there is no “conclusive evidence” as to whether Governor Christie “was or was not” involved. But it says that two of his allies acted “with perceived impunity” when they gridlocked Fort Lee’s streets apparently for political reasons. The panel says it will hold off on calling more witnesses so as not to interfere with the federal criminal investigation.

Dec. 27, 2014Christie and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo block efforts of lawmakers in both states to reform the Port Authority and instead endorse their own sweeping proposal in response to the lane closure scandal. The vetoed legislation had been unanimously approved by both states’ lawmakers. But the governors opt for reforms recommended by their own hand-picked advisers.  Among the reforms: The governors agree to no longer appoint the agency’s two top executives in an attempt to de-politicize the agency.

Cuomo

Oct.3

May20

Baroni explains closures at 2013 Assembly hearing

April7

May1

Sept.8

Feb.5

Jan. 8-9, 2015Lawmakers in both states vow to try to override the veto of the Port Authority reform bill. Meanwhile, there are new signs that the year-long federal investigation is nearing completion: The legislative committee investigating the lane closures receives a subpoena for a video recording of since-discredited testimony from former Port Authority Executive Director Bill Baroni in November 2013 in which he attributed the lane closures to a traffic study. At the same time, Christie’s office acknowledges that he was questioned by FBI agents and federal prosecutors in December.

June 26

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Dec.16

Jan.8-9

June26

Feb. 5, 2015The Record reports federal subpoenas have been issued in what appears to be an investigation focusing on whether United Airlines initiated a flight route to provide the Port Authority’s former chairman with direct travel to his weekend home in South Carolina. The nonstop weekend flights between Newark and Columbia, S.C. began while David Samson was chairman of the Port Authority and were cancelled three days after he resigned. Samson referred to it as “the chairman’s flight,” one source said. Federal aviation data shows the flights were, on average, only about half full. Samson was heavily involved in negotiations with United during his tenure as chairman of the Port Authority, which operates the region’s major airports.

April 7, 2015Former Port Authority Chairman David Samson, who was the subject of an ongoing federal investigation, announced his retirement from the law firm he founded decades ago. The well-known firm, Wolff & Samson, also announced it would change its name, erasing any mention of Samson, a move some in the legal community saw as an effort to protect the firm from potential future fallout.

Photo by Scott Gurian/New Jersey Public Radio

May 1, 2015Former Port Authority executive David Wildstein, right, pleaded guilty to two conspiracy charges related to the vindictive closure of lanes on the George Washington Bridge and federal authorities unsealed indictments against Port Authority’s former deputy executive director Bill Baroni and Governor Christie’s former deputy chief of staff, Bridget Anne Kelly. The pair face federal criminal charges for using the bridge as a political weapon and then covering it up, court papers show.

May 20, 2015Federal prosecutors make a bid to keep more than 1.5 million pages of evidence out of public view until trial of Kelly and Baroni.

June 26, 2015The Port Authority reverses a 2012 land deal that came under scrutiny because it benefited a client of the law firm owned by the agency's former chairman, David Samson. Under the 2012 deal, the Port Authority agreed to reduce rent on a parcel of land in North Bergen used by NJ Transit as a park-and-ride lot from $907,000 a year, to $1. The decision came more than a year after NJ Transit had hired Samson's law firm, at a cost of up to $1.5 million, to advise it on how to maximize profits on its park-and-ride lots, including the one in North Bergen. Samson was chairman of the Port Authority at the time of the decision.

Sept. 8, 2015The top executive of United Airlines and two other high-ranking employees step down in response to an internal investigation into whether the carrier set up a non-stop flight route to curry favor with Samson, the former chairman of the Port Authority.

United CEO Jeff Smisek

Oct. 3, 2015Christie’s transportation chief, Jamie Fox, dogged by questions over his past work as a lobbyist for United Airlines, announces his resignation. Fox came under fire for sitting in on a closed-door meeting that resulted in a state agency’s decision to forgive a $104,000 potential penalty against the airline. Fox has also faced questions about his role in the initiation of the “chairman's flight.”

Fox

Dec. 16, 2015Susan D. Wigenton, the federal judge overseeing the case on the lane closing scandal, chastises Governor Christie's taxpayer-funded investigation, which to this point has cost $8 million, saying attorneys hired by the state intentionally failed to preserve interview notes because they were mindful of a parallel legislative investigation and intense media scrutiny.

Wigenton

Mar.23

May11

Feb 3, 2016Kelly and Baroni seek to have federal charges dismissed, saying they may have behaved badly by allegedly closing access lanes to the George Washington Bridge in an act of political retribution, but they didn't break any laws.

June6

July14

July7

June 14

Feb. 17

Feb.3

Feb 5, 2016Attorneys for Kelly and Baroni are granted the ability to subpoena emails and other documents withheld by the law firm Governor Christie hired to investigate who closed the lanes and why.

Feb 17, 2016Federal prosecutors say the public does not have the right to know the identities of people suspected but not charged with involvement in the politically motivated closure of access lanes to the George Washington Bridge. Papers filed with the court to shield the identities are the response to a motion by the news media, led by The Record, to gain access to the identities.

March 23, 2016Wigenton again delays the trial date for Kelly and Baroni which had been scheduled to start on May 16. It is pushed to Sept. 12.

May 11, 2016Governor Christie says it’s “highly doubtful” his name will appear on the list of people the U.S. attorney says were involved but not charged with a crime in the politically motivated shutdown of access lanes to the George Washington Bridge.

Christie

June 6, 2016Fishman makes a personal plea to a federal appeals court, asking judges to block the release of a list of people suspected of – but not charged with – involvement in the politically motivated closure of access lanes to the George Washington Bridge. 

June 14, 2016As a federal judge rules that the George Washington Bridge lane closure case will go to trial, lawyers for Kelly and Baroni invoke the Watergate scandal to demand access to Christie’s cellphone and phone records. Referencing President Richard Nixon’s failed bid to stop the release of White House recordings related to the Watergate scandal, their defense attorneys demand that lawyers acting on behalf of the governor turn over his cellphone and phone records as well as those of top officials that were used at the time of the 2013 lane closures. 

July 7, 2016A federal judge denies a bid by defense lawyers to subpoena the cellphones of Governor Christie and his aides in connection with the George Washington Bridge lane-closure scandal, ruling that Baroni and Kelly were overreaching.

July 14, 2016Samson pleads guilty to knowingly and corruptly soliciting and accepting a thing of value – namely non-stop flights to his vacation home in South Carolina.

Radio communications

Sept. 9, 2013Sept. 10, 2013 Sept. 11, 2013

Police stationed at the George Washington Bridge can be heard scrambling to deal with the traffic nightmare caused by abruptly planned lane closures that clogged Fort Lee’s streets for a few days in September 2013.

Key

Note: Markers locate approximate area mentioned in police radio communication, not the location of the officers speaking.

A look at traffic flow from Fort Lee through the George Washington Bridge toll plaza Click the arrows to change access from one to three lanes.

Cone placement

Local traffic crossing the George Washington Bridge from Fort Lee, shown here on a normal day, has three lanes of access to toll plazas; one lane is a dedicated E-ZPass lane. On the best of days, it has a high volume of traffic that backs up into local traffic. Black dots show cone placement.

According to the Port Authority assessment of closing two toll lanes for local access from Fort Lee on Sept 9-12: • Two lanes of traffic, backed up more than half a mile (more than 500 cars).• Local traffic experienced an additional 2,800 vehicle hours of delay. Black dots show cone placement.

7 minutes

These details emerged in a letter Borough Emergency Services Coordinator Paul Favia wrote to Mayor Mark Sokolich on Sept. 10 —  a day after the closures crippled Fort Lee, causing four-hour traffic jams that also stranded children on buses on the first day of school.

Click Next arrow to advance through the emergency responses

EMS crew took seven minutes to respond to a call that a man was experiencing chest pains;  the response time should have been three or four minutes.

With local streets at a standstill after access lanes to the George Washington Bridge were abruptly closed, emergency responders struggled to answer calls for help.

Emergency response times

These details emerged in a letter Borough Emergency Services Coordinator Paul Favia wrote to Mayor Mark Sokolich on Sept. 10 —  a day after the closures crippled Fort Lee, causing four-hour traffic jams that also stranded children on buses on the first day of school.

EMS crew took seven minutes to respond to a call that a man was experiencing chest pains;  the response time should have been three or four minutes.

Click Next arrow to advance through the emergency responses

EMS crew took seven minutes to reach an unconscious 91-year-old woman who later died of cardiac arrest at a hospital. Paramedics were delayed by heavy traffic on Fort Lee Road and had to meet the ambulance on the way to the hospital instead of at the scene.

9 minutes

EMS crew took seven minutes to respond to a call that a man was experiencing chest pains;  the response time should have been three or four minutes.

EMS crew took seven minutes to reach an unconscious 91-year-old woman who later died of cardiac arrest at a hospital. Paramedics were delayed by heavy traffic on Fort Lee Road and had to meet the ambulance on the way to the hospital instead of at the scene.

EMS crews took seven to nine minutes to arrive at the scene of a car accident in which four people were injured; the response time should have been less than four minutes.

EMS crew took seven minutes to reach an unconscious 91-year-old woman who later died of cardiac arrest at a hospital. Paramedics were delayed by heavy traffic on Fort Lee Road and had to meet the ambulance on the way to the hospital instead of at the scene.

Because of standstill traffic on Route 46 east;  it took nearly an hour for EMS personel to arrive at a building where a person was experiencing chest pains. 

60 minutes

EMS crews took seven to nine minutes to arrive at the scene of a car accident in which four people were injured; the response time should have been less than four minutes.

EMS crew took seven minutes to respond to a call that a man was experiencing chest pains;  the response time should have been three or four minutes.

Hoboken  Ten days after the George Washington Bridge lane-closure scandal spread to Governor Christie’s office in January, Hoboken Mayor Dawn Zimmer went public with another bombshell accusation. She said several Christie administration officials, including Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, had pressed her to fast-track a real estate development in Hoboken proposed by a client of Port Authority Chairman David Samson’s law firm. Samson, who has since resigned from the agency post, was a close adviser to Christie. Zimmer said she was told that the state would withhold Superstorm Sandy recovery money from Hoboken if she didn’t approve the massive real estate project by The Rockefeller Group. Christie administration officials have denied the claim. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in New Jersey is investigating.

Harrison PATH station  Port Authority Chairman David Samson’s business interests received intense scrutiny in the weeks after the lane-closure scandal erupted. In late January, The Record reported that Samson and another commissioner had voted for a $256 million renovation of the Port Authority’s Harrison PATH station. The commissioners had private ties to some of the surrounding land at the time of the vote.   A builder represented by Samson’s law firm had proposed converting a nearby warehouse into luxury condos three months before the vote. And another commissioner, real estate developer David Steiner, had secured the rights to build a 20-story complex on a second nearby parcel four months before he voted for the new station. The 2012 Harrison PATH votes raised questions about conflicts of interest by Samson and other Port Authority commissioners. The media coverage also drew attention to a residential property-flipping venture in Harrison involving Governor Christie’s brother, Todd, and the owner of a construction company that has won state contracts worth millions.

NJ Transit park & ride  The controversy over Port Authority Chairman David Samson’s private business interest intensified in February, when The Record reported that he had voted to sweeten a Port Authority lease for a client of his law firm. Samson voted to reduce NJ Transit’s lease on a Port Authority-owned park-and-ride lot in North Bergen from $907,000 a year to just $1. At the time, NJ Transit was paying Samson’s law firm $1.5 million for advice on how to maximize profits from its pay-to-park operations, which included the North Bergen lot. After the news report, Samson said he had meant to recuse himself from the vote – which did not occur in public – and a Port Authority attorney said a clerical error was to blame for documents that showed Samson had approved the lease deal. The controversy led the Port Authority to change its procedure for tallying commissioner votes, making it more public and transparent. The Port Authority also announced this year that it would increase the NJ Transit lease for the North Bergen lot from $1 to the current market rate.

Pulaski Skyway  In March, The Record revealed internal Port Authority documents that showed the Christie administration pushed the agency to divert toll money from its Hudson River crossings to non-agency road projects in New Jersey. Port Authority attorneys, meanwhile, wrote in internal memos that it would not be legal. State and federal laws require the Port Authority to spend money only on its own facilities or to get legislative approval in New York and New Jersey. But, under pressure, the agency ultimately came up with a creative way to justify spending $1.8 billion to repair several New Jersey roadways, including the Pulaski Skyway. The Port Authority said in official documents that the roads are used to access the Port Authority’s Lincoln Tunnel, even though they are miles from the tunnel and do not connect to it directly. The Manhattan District Attorney’s Office is investigating  whether that constituted fraud against the bondholders  and investors who lend the Port Authority money. And  the federal Securities and Exchange  Commission  launched its own probe. 

Toll hikes  After Governor Christie’s two top Port Authority executives resigned, their roles in a prior controversy – the 2011 toll hikes at the agency’s Hudson River crossings – became clearer.   Deputy Executive Director Bill Baroni and his aide, David Wildstein, led a secretive campaign to quickly push through the toll hikes by drowning out criticism and limiting public input, agency executives told The Record for an article published in March. And Governor Christie and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo were in on a plan to have the Port Authority float higher than-needed toll hikes so the governors could play the part of fiscal hawks by scaling back the proposed increases, several current and former agency officials said.    The campaign was carried out from a conference room on the 15th floor of the Port Authority’s Manhattan headquarters.  It was called the “war room.” And only a select group of  agency executives, mostly Christie loyalists, were given  access. Baroni and Wildstein worked with a representative  of a laborers union to have hundreds of union  members flood public hearings that were purposely  held at times and  locations that made it hard for regular  commuters to attend.

Regional bank  The Port Authority has given the governors of New York and New Jersey hundreds of millions of dollars to spend on pet projects and causes through a little-known program called the regional bank. The program has been used by the governors to give millions to non-profits that have little or no connection to the Port Authority, including a group that aims to preserve Hispanic culture through dance performances, the New York Botanical Garden and a public library in the Bronx, The Record reported in July.   The fund was replenished with $950 million to be split by the governors after the Port Authority passed its largest-ever toll hikes in 2011. Some New Jersey Democrats have criticized the program, saying that the money should instead be directed to the Port Authority’s outdated and cramped midtown Manhattan bus terminal. But a reform panel that that issued a 103-page report in December recommended  ending the program and redirecting the money to  transportation projects that align with the agency’s  core  mission.

Port Authority  In the wake of the scandal, lawmakers on both sides of the Hudson River have called for reforms at the 93-year-old Port Authority. But in December, Christie and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo vetoed proposed reform legislation unanimously approved by lawmakers in both states.   Instead, they endorsed recommendations by a panel of their own handpicked advisers. Included is an agreement by both governors that neither Trenton or Albany will continue to appoint the agency's two top executives. The Port Authority will shed its massive real estate portfolio, including the World Trade Center. And the agency will eliminate a $600 million program that allowed each state’s governor to direct toll money to pet projects in his respective state.   Meanwhile, state lawmakers have vowed to try to override  the veto of the reform legislation, saying the independent  bi-state agency needs additional external oversight that  can only be accomplished by passing laws in both states .

The chairman’s flight  In 2012, United Airlines created a non-stop flight route  on its ExpressJet service  between Newark and Columbia, South Carolina, only about 50 miles from a home where then Port Authority Chairman David Samson spent many weekends. The flights left Newark on Thursday evenings and returned Monday mornings. The flights were, on average, only half full. The route was cancelled three days after Samson resigned last year.  Federal investigators are looking into whether the airline flew the weekend route to benefit Samson, who led an agency that controls the region's major airports and was in negotiations with United on several matters over the course of his tenure.   Federal prosecutors in January 2015 sent a subpoena to the Port Authority asking for Samson's personal travel records and his communications with United and its lobbyist. The airline’s lobbyist at the time was Jamie Fox, a Samson friend who is now Christie's state transportation chief. Subsequently, federal authorities asked for documents related to a wide range of matters over which United and the Port Authority were negotiating. United Airlines and some of its executives have also received  subpoenas and the company has said it is conducting its own internal investigation.

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Jan. 10, 2014 U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman announces that his office will review the GWB lane closures. Wildstein appears before a state legislative committee investigating the closures and invokes the Fifth Amendment.