Ex-Christie aide in newly released text-message conversation: Governor 'flat out lied' on Bridgegate

Thomson Reuters

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie reacts to a question during a news conference in Trenton, New Jersey.

A former aide to Chris Christie said the New Jersey governor "flat out lied" when questioned by a reporter on the decision to close access lanes to the George Washington Bridge, text messages made public in a Wednesday court filing revealed. 

Christie insisted during a December 2013 news conference that senior staffers and his campaign manager, Bill Stepien, assured him that they were not involved in the scandal widely known as Bridgegate. But messages from Christina Genovese Renna, the former director of Christie's Intergovernmental Affairs office, to Peter Sheridan, a campaign staffer, cast doubt on that claim.

Renna, while listening to the news conference, sent a text to Sheridan saying Christie "lied" and acknowledging that "if emails are found with the subpoena ... it could be bad."

The messages came out in a court filing that's part of a trial over the lane closures, according to NJ Advance Media.

Here's the conversation from the court documents:

Christie said Wednesday that the accusations he lied were not true.

Christie has been campaigning on behalf of Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump. He was once under consideration to be Trump's running mate, and voiced his disappointment when the spot went to Indiana Gov. Mike Pence instead.

The Bridgegate scandal has been a black mark on his administration in New Jersey. While he is not on trial for fraud, two of his former deputies are.

Christie insisted that he wasn't involved in the scandal, and didn't know that the lanes in Fort Lee, New Jersey were allegedly shut down as political retribution. The lane closures caused massive traffic backups after Fort Lee's mayor declined to endorse Christie for re-election.