Feb. 1, 2014 9:01 p.m. ET
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's administration has attacked the motives of a former ally whose attorney claims the GOP presidential hopeful knew of highly disruptive lane closures on a New York area bridge as they were going on, contrary to the governor's previous statements.
Mr. Christie's office challenged the claims of his former associate, David Wildstein, in a public statement on Saturday. "Bottom line—David Wildstein will do and say anything to save David Wildstein," said the message, first reported by Politico and reviewed by The Wall Street Journal.
New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie arrived on stage Saturday during the Super Bowl Hand-Off Ceremony on Super Bowl Boulevard in Times Square in New York. Reuters
Mr. Wildstein's attorney Alan Zegas in the letter released to the Port Authority and the media on Friday said "evidence exists…tying Mr. Christie to having knowledge" of the lane closures while they were still going on during the week beginning Sept. 9.
He didn't identify the evidence to which he referred or say of what it consists. Mr. Zegas's letter also said Mr. Wildstein could prove various statements made by the governor about Mr. Wildstein weren't accurate.
Mr. Wildstein personally directed the lane closures at the George Washington Bridge from Sept. 9 to Sept. 13, causing traffic jams in Fort Lee, N.J. that lengthened commutes and delayed emergency vehicles.
The closures were seen by many people as political retribution against Fort Lee's Democratic mayor, who didn't endorse Mr. Christie's re-election. The exact motive for the lane closures has yet to be proven.
Mr. Wildstein has since resigned as director of interstate capital projects at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the bridge, which is one of the busiest in the world.
Mr. Christie has in the past said he learned of the lane closures from press reports, though he has given different accounts of when he learned of them. On Dec. 13, the governor said he had first become aware of the lane-closure controversy after an internal Port Authority email was "leaked to the media." The Wall Street Journal was the first to publish that document on its website on Oct. 1.
But in January, Mr. Christie said he learned from news reports about the traffic jams that the closures created. And his administration said late on Friday and on Saturday that he learned of the closures from a report published on the morning of Sept. 13, after they were ended by a directive from a Port Authority official.
At a news conference on Jan. 9, where he announced the firing of Bridget Kelly, a top aide who was linked by emails to the lane closures, and when he apologized to the people of the state, Mr. Christie said he hadn't knowledge of the motives behind what he then termed as a "political vendetta" involving Mr. Wildstein and Ms. Kelly.
Up until the previous morning, the governor had said, he believed the explanation of some staff members that the closures were part of a study. Other officials, including those in the Port Authority testifying under oath, had weeks earlier questioned that explanation.
Also on Saturday, the special counsel for the legislative committee investigating the closures said he met on Friday with U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman, whose office is also investigating. The two sides agreed the legislative panel could continue its probe without interfering in the prosecutors' investigation, special counsel Reid Schar said.
Saturday's Christie administration statement attacked the character of Mr. Wildstein, whom the governor has known since high school and who became an influential political blogger before being hired at the Port Authority in a newly created senior position in 2010.
The statement quoted press accounts, including one referring to Mr. Wildstein's contribution to a "culture of fear" within the bistate authority. It noted another article showing he had registered Internet domain names in the names of other people and cited another article saying he was "publicly accused by his high school social studies teacher of deceptive behavior."
A request for comment from Mr. Wildstein's attorney wasn't immediately returned.
Saturday's statement struck a different tone from the administration's comments after Mr. Wildstein resigned from the Port Authority in early December when he had said the growing scandal was becoming a distraction.
"Mr. Wildstein has been a tireless advocate for New Jersey's interests at the Port Authority," Mr. Christie's spokesman, Michael Drewniak, emailed at the time. "We are grateful for his commitment and dedication to the important work of the Port Authority and thank him for his service to the people of New Jersey and the region."
Write to Ted Mann at ted.mann@wsj.com
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