NJ Bridgegate Probe Committee Issues More Subpoenas

Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images(NEW YORK) — The New Jersey state legislative committee investigating the George Washington Bridge lane closure scandal issued more subpoenas Monday.

Democratic Assemblyman and co-chair of the committee John Wisniewski said because of the late hour it is likely those subpoenaed would not be served until Tuesday.

ABC News has obtained the full list of subpoenas from a source briefed on the investigation:

• Chris Christie for Governor, the governor’s re-election campaign (was already subpoenaed; this seeks more info)
• Christie’s office (was already subpoenaed; this seeks more info)
• Regina Egea, director of the authorities unit, governor’s office (was already subpoenaed; this seeks more info)
• Nicole Crifo, senior counsel to the authorities unit, governor’s office
• Jeanne Ashmore, director of constituent relations, governor’s office
• Rosemary Iannacone, director of operations, governor’s office
• Barbara Panebianco, executive assistant to Bridget Anne Kelly, governor’s office
• Custodian of records, State Police aviation unit (this is on the question of helicopter rides with the governor)
• William “Pat” Schuber, commissioner at the Port Authority
• Bill Baroni, former deputy executive director at the Port Authority (was already subpoenaed; this seeks more info)
• Custodian of records, Port Authority
• Steve Coleman, deputy director of media relations, Port Authority
• Phillip Kwon, deputy general counsel, Port Authority
• John Ma, chief of staff to Executive Director Patrick Foye, Port Authority
• Matthew Bell, special assistant to former Deputy Executive Director Bill Baroni, Port Authority
• Gretchen DiMarco, assistant to Baroni, Port Authority
• Arielle Schwarz, special assistant to former Director of Interstate Capital Projects David Wildstein, Port Authority
• Mark Muriello, assistant director of Tunnels, Bridges & Terminals, Port Authority

The committee also adopted six motions to force Christie’s former campaign manager, Bill Stepien, and former deputy chief of staff, Bridget Ann Kelly, to turn over subpoenaed documents. Both have refused, invoking their Fifth Amendment rights. These motions authorize the committee to “take all appropriate legal steps to enforce the subpoenas” if the committee does not receive the documents by a date that will be determined after the committee confers with the attorneys for both Kelly and Stepien.

“We do not believe they have constitutional grounds to stand on the Fifth Amendment for the production of documents before that committee,” said Democratic state Sen. Loretta Weinberg, the other co-chair of the committee.

Several Republican legislators abstained in the investigative committee’s vote to pass the six resolutions, with at least two citing they had not had enough time to review the situation.

When asked about the party line vote, Wisniewski said “there are no Democratic facts or Republican facts here, just the facts.”

“What this committee has been charged to do is to look at getting answers to a very simple question,” Wisniewski said. Was “somebody in the governor’s office issued an email and that email resulted in Fort Lee being gridlocked for four days?”

“We don’t know why it was sent, we don’t know under whose authority, but there are facts out there somewhere that would answer those questions,” he said.

At the end of the news conference Wisniewski summed up the investigation, saying, “That’s ultimately what the inquiry of the committee is, who knew what when and who authorized this and why.”

The committee met Monday — the first time since documents were due to be turned in last week. But the committee declined to say how many subpoenaed individuals or entities handed over documents up to now, saying they are coming in on a “rolling” basis.

The panel has already subpoenaed 18 people, including top aides to Christie, as well as the governor’s office and his re-election campaign.

The committee is investigating the closure of local access lanes to the George Washington Bridge, the country’s busiest span, causing traffic snarls in Fort Lee for days. Emails released last month indicated they were closed for political retribution against a Democratic mayor who refused to endorse Christie.

Christie has said he had no information about the lane closures before they occurred and had nothing to do with the decision to close them. There has been no evidence directly linking Christie to the lane closures.

The New York Post reported Monday that the committee will also probe records of chopper rides Christie took to see if he flew near Fort Lee while lanes were closed and whether Wildstein was with him.

Christie spokesman Colin Reed said the governor took a helicopter from New York City to Trenton after the 9/11 ceremony, when the lanes were closed, but that Wildstein was not with him, adding Wildstein “has never flown in the helicopter with the governor.”

Monday’s session comes while Christie is attempting to move past the scandal.

He is slated to headline an event Tuesday at the Economic Club of Chicago, where he will participate in a conversation moderated by Greg Brown, CEO of Motorola Solutions. He is also scheduled to attend two fundraisers for the Republican Governors Association, of which he is the chairman.

On Thursday, he is set to hold his first town hall since what has become known as Bridgegate broke. It is Christie’s 110th town hall and he will focus on the state’s continued recovery since 2012′s Superstorm Sandy. He will then travel to Washington, D.C., for the annual New Jersey Chamber of Commerce trip where he will address members of New Jersey’s congressional delegation and business community.

This all comes after what has been a tough weekend for Christie. On Sunday, the Star-Ledger apologized to its readers for endorsing Christie for re-election, telling the Garden State they “blew this one” and calling the decision “regrettable.”

The Chicago Sun-Times reported that the four GOP candidates running for Illinois governor will not attend the RGA fundraisers Christie is headlining, something national Democrats have jumped on, sending former Ohio Gov. Ted Strickland to Chicago to attempt to shadow him, much like they did last month with DNC Chair Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz when he held fundraisers in Florida.

On Sunday the DNC also released another Web video, meant to look like a tenth-anniversary Facebook video, hitting Christie and highlighting the worse moments of the scandal over the last month.

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