GWB Scandal: Ex-Christie Campaign Manager Invokes Fifth Amendment in Challenging Subpoena

[Hissyspit]

Source: The Record (NJ)

@maddow: "Gov Christie's former campaign manager appears to be a target of a federal criminal investigation, his lawyer says" http://t.co/JEHQvRt1UN

GWB scandal: Ex-Christie campaign manager invokes Fifth Amendment in challenging subpoena

Monday, March 3, 2014 Last updated: Monday March 3, 2014, 9:14 PM

BY SHAWN BOBURG
STAFF WRITER
The Record

Governor Christie’s former campaign manager Bill Stepien appears to be a target of a federal criminal investigation, his lawyer said in a court filing on Monday, describing recent unannounced visits and phone calls by federal agents who went so far as to ask Stepien’s landlord if he was a rowdy tenant and paid rent on time.

The revelations were another signal that federal prosecutors are looking closely into politically-motivated lane closures at the George Washington Bridge and whether they were ordered by officials who were once in the governor’s inner circle. Stepien’s attorney wrote that his client is innocent of any wrongdoing.

The court filing came in a civil case that will determine if Stepien must provide documents subpoenaed by a legislative committee conducting its own investigation into the lane closures. The case has forced Stepien’s lawyer into an awkward position: arguing that Stepien should not have to provide the documents to lawmakers because he is the subject of the federal probe.

Stepien has invoked his Fifth Amendment protection against self-incrimination in response to the legislative subpoena, and the dispute has gone before a state Superior Court judge in Mercer County who will hear arguments next Tuesday. The court case is the most significant test yet of the investigative power of state lawmakers who have subpoena power and are demanding documents against the backdrop of a high-stakes federal investigation.

The attorney for another central figure in the scandal, Christie’s former deputy chief of staff, Bridget Anne Kelly, said Monday that his client and her parents had also been approached by federal agents. Kelly and her family members declined to talk to them, said attorney Michael Critchley. Kelly, who wrote in an e-mail to a Port Authority executive, “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee,” weeks before local access lanes to the bridge were shut, is also fighting a legislative subpoena for documents.

Read more: http://www.northjersey.com/news/Lawyer_for_former_Christie_campaign_manager_files_brief_in_effort_to_fight_subpoena.html

[Cha]

1. Ah yes, Bill Stepian.. he resigned early. I'm thinking he had an

inking of how this could go down.

Hope his little grasp to not incriminate himself Does Not Work.

[sakabatou]

2. He's going to be found in contempt

[Gothmog]

3. The 5th amendment has limited application to documents

The concepts of testimony by production and act of production will not protect septien http://www.democraticunderground.com/10024427107

[Laxman]

4. A Puzzling Statement...

from Mr. Stepien's lawyer. How could he possibly incriminate himself if he is the innocent man he claims to be?

“While the committee’s work is no doubt important, it seems safe to assume that the Union will not crumble if Chairman Wisniewski is denied the ability to compel Mr. Stepien to testify against himself,” Marino writes.

He says that Wisniewski has his eyes on higher office, and adds: "Under the circumstances, to suggest that Mr. Stepien is not at risk of incrimination is to defy common sense."

Stepien knew of the lane closures as they were happening, his lawyer acknowledges. But he is an "innocent man," Marino writes, and he did not know the reasons behind the scheme.

http://www.njspotlight.com/stories/14/03/04/feds-question-christie-s-campaign-manager-s-landlord-attorney-says