NEW YORK: New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said yesterday he hired a law firm to help his office as federal prosecutors probe whether US law was broken when one of his aides ordered an apparent politically motivated traffic jam.
A star of the Republican party, Christie for the past week has been dealing with a scandal since officials released e-mails showing a top aide calling for lane closures on the George Washington Bridge in evident retribution against the Democratic mayor of Fort Lee, New Jersey.
The governor’s office said it had retained the law firm of Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher LLP to help with an internal review and to cooperate with an investigation announced last week by US Attorney for New Jersey Paul Fishman.
The outside attorneys will bring a “third-party perspective to the situation, and they will be a valuable asset as we move forward,” Christie spokesman Michael Drewniak said.
Randy Mastro will lead the outside legal team. During the 1990s, Mastro served as a deputy mayor to another moderate Republican who would go on to have presidential aspirations: Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
Christie, widely considered a top contender for the White House in 2016, said last week he would cooperate with the federal probe of the unexpected shutdown over four days in September of three local access lanes to the George Washington Bridge linking New Jersey and New York City.
Reuters
