A former staffer of New Jersey Governor Chris Christie said on Tuesday she did not believe that her ex-boss, Bridget Anne Kelly, was the main driver of the George Washington Bridge lane closings, according to the Associated Press.
Christina Genovese Renna, Kell'ys former staffer, also said she was not personally involved in the closings, which have become known as the "Bridgegate" scandal and have taken a toll on the public image of Christie, a prominent Republican widely viewed as a 2016 White House contender, the AP reported.
Renna told a state legislative panel probing the incident that she did not believe Kelly, who had served as Christie's deputy chief of staff before the governor fired her, dreamed up the idea of sparking massive traffic jams in Fort Lee, New Jersey, according to the AP.
"I wouldn't say she was the architect, but I'd say she was instrumental," Renna said, the AP reported. She declined legislators' request to speculate on who may have ordered the lane closures, which came in a move of apparent political retribution to the Democratic mayor of Fort Lee, who declined to back Christie's re-election bid.
The shutdown over four days last September caused massive gridlock in Fort Lee, near the bridge linking New Jersey to New York City, according to the AP.
Christie has adamantly denied any knowledge of the scheme, and fired Kelly after the release of an e-mail in which she told David Wildstein, a former Christie appointee at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, that it was "time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee," the AP reported.
Renna, who resigned this year as Christie's director of intergovernmental affairs, testified under oath that she had "no knowledge of or involvement in the bridge lane closures," according to the AP. Renna added that her former superior had an "issue" with Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich but could not explain what it was.
Wildstein, who resigned from the agency last year last year, has been accused of orchestrating the scheme and is seeking immunity in the state legislative probe, the AP reported.
A trove of documents Wildstein turned over to the panel includes a message from Renna to Kelly saying Sokolich was "extremely upset" about the traffic jams in his town, and that emergency responders were being delayed, according to the AP.
