'Mr. Christie, you are a bully!' Former aide to ex-New Jersey governor slams her 'dishonorable' former boss as a 'coward' who 'approved' shutting down lanes on the George Washington Bridge after she is sentenced to 13 months in prison
- Bridget Kelly had her sentence cut from 18 months to 13 months in prison
- She was sentenced by U.S. District Judge Susan Wigenton in Newark on Wednesday
- Kelly and co-defendant Bill Baroni were convicted in 2016 in Bridgegate scandal
- They plotted to cause traffic jam near George Washington Bridge to punish Fort Lee mayor who did not endorse Chris Christie for re-election as governor
- Kelly was Christie's deputy chief of staff in 2013, when the Bridgegate episode took place
- Baroni has started serving an 18-month prison term after he was initially sentenced to 24 months
A onetime aide to former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie who was sentenced to prison over the Bridgegate scandal blasted her ex-boss as a 'bully' and a 'coward' on Wednesday, accusing him of approving the plan to close a lane on the George Washington Bridge only to deny doing so to federal investigators.
'Mr Christie, you are a bully, and the days of you calling me a liar and destroying my life are over,' Bridget Kelly, Christie's former deputy chief of staff, told reporters outside federal court in Newark after she was resentenced to 13 months behind bars.
‘The truth will be heard, and for the former governor, that truth will be unescapable, regardless of lucrative television deals or even future campaigns.
‘I plan to make sure of that.’
Bridget Kelly, the former deputy chief of staff to ex-New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, reads a statement to the press after she is sentenced to 13 months in prison outside of federal court in Newark on Wednesday
Kelly slammed Christie as a 'bully' and a 'coward', accusing him of lying to cover up his role in the Bridgegate scandal
‘The truth will be heard, and for the former governor, that truth will be unescapable, regardless of lucrative television deals or even future campaigns,' she said. ‘I plan to make sure of that.’ Supporters of Kelly listen as she reads her statement in Newark on Wednesday
Kelly fought back tears while reading a prepared statement to the press following her resentencing on Wednesday.
She blasted the legal system, saying it scapegoated lower level aides while allowing the powerful ex-governor to walk free, according to NJ Advance Media.
‘The fact that I am on these steps in place of others from the Christie administration, and the governor himself, does not prove my guilt,' she said.
'It only proves that justice is not blind. It has favorites. It misses the mark. It misses the truth.
‘And it picks winners and losers that are sometimes beyond anyone’s control.
‘How did all these men all escape justice?’
Kelly accused her former boss of lying about the Bridgegate scandal to save his own skin.
‘Chris Christie was allowed, without rebuttal from anyone, to say out of one side of his mouth that I was a low level staffer,' she said.
Christie is seen above center alongside Kelly (right) in Seaside Heights, New Jersey in September 2013
‘A woman only good enough to plan menus and invite people to events.
‘And then say out of the other side that I was somehow powerful enough to shut down the George Washington Bridge.’
She added: 'There is only one person, only one, and he was powerful enough to approve this act.
'Just because someone has the title of governor doesn’t give them the right to mislead others.
It’s dishonorable and it only shows that person for the coward he is.'
Earlier on Wednesday, Kelly, dabbing her eyes with a tissue at points during the resentencing hearing, cried as she asked the judge to consider the impact on her children and impose a sentence of home confinement.
'I do ask you today to consider what my four children have been through over the past five years,' Kelly said in court.
She and co-defendant Bill Baroni were convicted in 2016 in what prosecutors and a co-conspirator said was a plot to cause traffic jams near the bridge to punish a mayor who wouldn't endorse Christie's reelection.
Kelly's attorney Michael Critchley asked the court to consider the emotional and psychological effects the trial had on Kelly and her family, saying that that amounted to punishment.
Kelly and another former aide, Bill Baroni, were convicted for plotting to slow traffic on the George Washington Bridge as retribution against a local mayor who refused to endorse Christie for re-election in 2013
'The shrapnel of Bridgegate that affects the Kelly family is embedded. It's gonna be there forever,' he said.
He also questioned why Christie, Wildstein and two other former officials, whose names came up during the trial but who went unindicted, seemed to face no punishment.
'The boys of Bridgegate are doing fine,' he said. 'Reputationally, they're doing fine.'
Assistant United States Attorney Vikas Khanna argued that a sentence of 13 to 18 months was necessary to send a message to the public that the wrongdoing Kelly was convicted of is unacceptable.
U.S. District Judge Susan Wigenton, who presided over the trial, opened Wednesday's proceedings by noting that she was 'extremely familiar' with the facts and added later that the underlying facts before the court had not changed.
Last fall, a federal appeals court threw out some of the counts against Kelly and Baroni but upheld the most serious ones.
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Baroni had his sentence reduced from 24 months to 18 months in February and has begun serving his term.
Kelly was initially sentenced to 18 months. She and Baroni both have petitioned the U.S. Supreme Court to hear their appeal of their convictions.
Christie, who wasn't charged and denied wrongdoing, responded in a statement on Wednesday.
'As I have said before, I had no knowledge of this scheme prior to or during these lane realignments, and had no role in authorizing them. No credible evidence was ever presented to contradict that fact. Anything said to the contrary is simply untrue,' he said.
Kelly was Christie's deputy chief of staff in 2013 when, prosecutors alleged, she, Baroni and David Wildstein conspired to close access lanes to the bridge over four days to create gridlock in the town of Fort Lee, whose Democratic mayor had declined to endorse Christie, a Republican.
Baroni (seen center on February 26 in Newark) has already started serving an 18-month prison sentence. He was appointed by Christie as deputy executive director of Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the George Washington Bridge
Kelly authored the infamous 'Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee' email the month before the lane realignment went into effect.
Baroni, a former New Jersey state senator, was appointed by Christie as deputy executive director of the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the bridge as well as tunnels, airports, ports and the World Trade Center.
Wildstein, a high school acquaintance of Christie's who worked for Baroni at the Port Authority, pleaded guilty and testified for the prosecution.
He was sentenced to probation and currently publishes a website on New Jersey politics.
Kelly and Baroni were convicted of wire fraud, conspiracy and civil rights counts.
The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals threw out the civil rights counts in November, ruling that a right to intrastate travel is not guaranteed under current federal law.
Though Christie wasn't charged, he was contradicted by several witnesses who testified during the trial.
The ensuing publicity helped derail Christie's efforts to be the GOP's 2016 presidential nominee.
Kelly's attorneys have argued in court filings that while the actions of their client and Baroni may have been ethically questionable, they weren't illegal because neither derived personal benefit, and the bridge was still being used for a public purpose.
They've also contended the trial judge erred when she ruled jurors didn't have to believe the lane realignment was for a political purpose in order to find the defendants guilty.
