The transcripted text is between Christina Renna, Christie’s director of intergovernmental affairs, and Peter Sheridan, a staffer on his re-election campaign. It is part of the filings in the pre-trial motions for Bill Baroni, who will be tried with Christie’s ex-deputy chief of staff for allegedly helping to orchestrate the September 2013 lane closures.
Christie has repeatedly insisted that no one in his office was involved in the lane closings. He denied any knowledge by senior staff in his office. Renna appears to have a curious interest in the truth for a political aide and told Sheridan “Are you listening? He just flat out lied about senior staff and [campaign manager Bill] Stepien not being involved.” Sheridan seems unconcerned and says “I’m listening. Gov is doing fine. Holding his own up there.” Renna respondes with “Yes. But he lied. And if emails are found with the subpoena or ccfg [Chris Christie for Governor] emails are uncovered in discovery if it comes to that it could be bad.”
It is not clear if the discovery was known to the Trump campaign when it decided not to give Christie the vice presidential slot. It is also not clear if Christie will be called as a witness to address the allegation. What is interesting is that politicians will often pivot out of such conflicts by emphasizing a lack of direct knowledge at the time of the statement. However, here his aides immediately called him out from what they considered a “flat out” lie.
What do you think?