NEWARK, N.J. (CN) — A man on trial for the politically engineered New Jersey traffic jam of 2013 testified Monday that it was no laughing matter when Gov. Chris Christie learned about the closure of lanes leading to the George Washington Bridge.
Christie's longtime claim that he had no knowledge of the traffic plot took a hit earlier in the trial when federal prosecutors introduced photographic evidence of the governor smiling on Day 3 of the lane closures with two cronies who would later be indicted.
Bill Baroni Jr. confirmed for the court this morning that the pictures were taken on the day Christie learned of traffic problems in Fort Lee, New Jersey.
That day in 2013, Fort Lee woke up to a third day of lane closures that caused hours of gridlock around one of the busiest bridges in the world, connecting the Garden State and New York City.
David Wildstein, the third man in the photographs, has admitted as part of a guilty plea that the congestion was meant to retaliate against Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich, a Democrat who had rebuffed overtures to endorse the Republican Christie's re-election.
Though Wildstein said Christie seemed "pleased" when told about Fort Lee's traffic problems, Baroni insisted Monday that the smile photographed on the governor's face had nothing to do with Bridgegate.
"Absolutely not," the witness said, under direct examination by his attorney Jen Mara.
Baroni proved unable, however, to remember what had him and Christie laughing in the photos, which were taken on Sept. 11, 2013, as Christie toured a memorial to the World Trade Center terrorist attacks.
Jurors have met at the federal courthouse for over a month now to determine whether Baroni conspired with Wildstein on the lane closures and the cover-up, with help from co-defendant Bridget Anne Kelly, a former senior staffer in the Christie administration.
Mara, a partner at Baldassare and Mara, asked her client: "Was there any mention of political retribution" and "was there any mention of punishment?"
To each question, Baroni replied, "no."
Baroni said that he told Christie what he himself believed: that the traffic was due to a legitimate traffic study.
Amid hours of prior testimony about Wildstein's reputation for dirty political tricks, the jury heard that Baroni was Wildstein's boss at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the public agency that runs the bridge.
But Baroni painted a more nuanced picture for the court Monday, saying his office did not authorize him to fire Wildstein.
"Governor Christie told me to hire him," Baroni said with regard to Wildstein.
"He was below me on the flow chart, but he reported to Trenton," Baroni added.
Baroni said it was his understanding that Christie brought Wildstein onboard to "tackle issues that were important to Trenton," the New Jersey city home to the governor's office.
While overseeing day-to-day Port Authority business kept Baroni busy, he said Wildstein worked on the bigger, political picture.
It was Wildstein who informed Baroni about what was going on in Trenton, in the governor's office, not the other way around, Baroni said.
This was especially true when Christie appointed David Samson to the Port Authority, the witness added.
Samson "made it very, very clear to me that he was going to be the person communicating with the governor," Baroni told the court.
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