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In reply to the discussion: Christie Crime Digest Volume III [View all]rocktivity
(44,576 posts)131. Will Bill Baroni end up an April fool?
Last edited Tue Nov 17, 2015, 11:10 PM - Edit history (2)
The trials of Bridget Kelly and Bill Baroni were to start this month, but they've been pushed back to April. Which is just as well, since it appears that their lawyers very likely would have had to ask for it to be delayed anyhow:
New York Times: Lawyers for two former allies of Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey have complained to...the United States District Court...that prosecutors and the governors lawyers had not provided emails and other documents related to the scheme to snarl traffic at the entrance to the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee...
Mr. Baronis lawyers are demanding to know why they did not receive copies of any emails sent to or from the governors office...and (also) request(ing) a change of venue for the trial...They said the extensive news media coverage of the matter had made it impossible for Mr. Baroni to receive a fair trial in New Jersey...
Mr. Baronis lawyers are demanding to know why they did not receive copies of any emails sent to or from the governors office...and (also) request(ing) a change of venue for the trial...They said the extensive news media coverage of the matter had made it impossible for Mr. Baroni to receive a fair trial in New Jersey...
WNYC.org: ...(W)ithin hours of...(his Nov. 10) debate...lawyers for the two Bridgegate defendants filed papers in federal court, (arguing) that...Christie's legal team is inappropriately hiding thousands of documents related to the Bridgegate scandal...Among the hidden documents, the lawyers say, are emails to and from the governor's personal and work email accounts and a calendar entry from the week when an order was delivered to close lanes at the George Washington Bridge in 2013.
At least 16 of those emails were sent from top Christie aides to former Port Authority appointee David Wildstein, who pleaded guilty in May to felony corruption charges...and Bill Baroni, the former top Port official who has pleaded not guilty...All told, Christie's taxpayer-funded attorneys at the Gibson Dunn law firm have withheld or redacted 9,428 emails and other documents. The reasons given include "campaign strategy" and "press strategy."
At least 16 of those emails were sent from top Christie aides to former Port Authority appointee David Wildstein, who pleaded guilty in May to felony corruption charges...and Bill Baroni, the former top Port official who has pleaded not guilty...All told, Christie's taxpayer-funded attorneys at the Gibson Dunn law firm have withheld or redacted 9,428 emails and other documents. The reasons given include "campaign strategy" and "press strategy."
No, no -- the words you're supposed to use are "confidentiality" and "proprietary." Calling them "strategies" give the impression you're trying to come up with a way to conceal something -- they're next door to the words "potentially self-incriminating!"
The...filed papers...also contain...allegations (that) Wildstein was apparently cooperating with federal authorities (since) 2014, getting interviewed by investigators at least four times....(and that) Wildstein removed Bill Baroni's hard drive from the Port Authority offices...though he left his own family photos at his desk.
Now, hold on, let's get the facts straight: You couldn't fire Wildstein, he quit! He therefore had every right to enter the office of the person he reported to and remove what was government property (federal government, since the PA is a bi-state agency)! According to Rachel Maddow and the court filings, Wildstein:
...stole Bill Baroni's Port Authority hard drive. At the time Wildstein did so, that hard drive was subject to a subpoena from the New Jersey Legislature as well as a request for information from the Port Authority office of the Inspector General. Rather than turn the hard drive over, he kept it (until) at some unspecified point later...gave it to the government.
Well, in the course of trying to get immunity way back when, Wildstein did say he had proof positive that Christie not only knew about Bridge(t)-Gate, but helped mastermind it. But if he essentially stole Baroni's hard drive, is it admissible as evidence? Since it was government property that he turned over to the federal government, I suppose he ultimately did the right thing. And I think Baroni has every right to know what's on that hard drive: maybe it will acquit him, but if it doesn't, he will have done the right thing whether it incriminates Christie or not!
rocktivity
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I know what you mean.. There's been so much illegality in the christie admin and from christie
Cha
May 2015
#9
my first thought when I saw skinny Wildstein was "the people behind Christie radiation poisoned him"
Backwoodsrider
May 2015
#33
Also known as "Christie's Forty-Seven-Percent-Moment" (Good-natured jabs, my donkey)
rocktivity
May 2015
#50
Is Christie's publicly-financed self-exonerating Mastro report about to come back to haunt him?
rocktivity
Jun 2015
#56
You rock Laxman!!! While the non-memories of "Fitzmas" still hurt, I think this is different...
winstars
Jun 2015
#61
I have said all along, he will never get convicted of any crime. He seems to let others....
Logical
Jun 2015
#73
Christie's latest power failure: Another storm, another self-serving response
rocktivity
Jun 2015
#80
UPDATE: (Hillary Supporter) Jon Bon Jovi Says He Gave (Hillary Opponent) Christie Permission
rocktivity
Jun 2015
#85
Christie Confirms Bruce Is Still His Fave NJ Musician, Gets Ovation From Bruce's Fans
rocktivity
Aug 2015
#98
He's Being Funded By A Tabloid? That Explains Why He's Started Talking Like One
rocktivity
Aug 2015
#99
Didn't Christie just fantasize about beating a woman and then serving her with a subpoena?
rocktivity
Feb 2016
#138