NEWARK, N.J.—Two former aides to Gov. Chris Christie were convicted Friday of creating an epic traffic jam at the George Washington Bridge for what prosecutors say was political revenge, capping a trial that cast doubt on Christie’s claims he knew nothing about the scheme.
Bridget Kelly, Christie’s former deputy chief of staff, and Bill Baroni, a Christie appointee to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, were found guilty of all counts against them.
The most serious charges carry up to 20 years in prison. Sentencing was scheduled for Feb. 21.
The federal jury took five days to reach a verdict in the scandal that helped sink Christie’s Republican campaign for president.
Christie has denied any knowledge of the scheme beforehand or while it was going on and has not been charged.
A message left with Christie’s office on Friday wasn’t immediately returned.
Prosecutors said Kelly and Baroni plotted with Christie ally David Wildstein to close lanes at the bridge and create gridlock in September 2013 to punish the Democratic mayor of Fort Lee for not endorsing Christie for re-election. Wildstein, a high-ranking Port Authority official, pleaded guilty to orchestrating the scheme and was the prosecution’s star witness.
Kelly and Baroni testified they believed the lane closings were part of a legitimate traffic study because, they said, that was what Wildstein told them.
The defense portrayed Wildstein as a liar and a dirty trickster—“the Bernie Madoff of New Jersey politics”—and argued that Christie and his inner circle had thrown the 44-year-old Kelly under the bus.
“They want that mother of four to take the fall for them. Cowards. Cowards,” Kelly attorney Michael Critchley said in a thundering closing argument.
