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Bridget Anne Kelly criticized Governor Chris Christie after being sentenced Wednesday to 13 months in federal prison for her role in the Bridgegate scandal.
The 46-year-old divorced mother, mother of four, will remain free as long as her appeal continues.
Speaking for the first time since her conviction in the unfortunate political retaliation plan, Kelly has furiously returned against the governor and members of his administration. Kelly has long argued that Christie and other members of the governor's office were aware of the political compensation plan and did nothing to stop it.
"The fact that I'm on these steps in place of other members of the Christie administration and the governor himself does not prove my guilt. It only proves that justice is not blind, "she said, expressing herself from a prepared statement and sometimes choking tears. "He has favorites. He misses the mark. He is missing the truth. And he chooses winners and losers who are sometimes beyond the control of anyone. "
At his seven-week trial, Kelly said the names of the governor's closest aides had been heard several times, as had the governor himself.
"How have all these men escaped justice?" She asked. "Chris Christie was allowed, without rebuttal by anyone, to say on one side of his mouth that I was a junior staff member. A woman can plan menus and invite people to events. Then tell the other side that I was powerful enough to close the George Washington Bridge. "
She said that there was only one person powerful enough to approve that, namely the governor himself.
Kelly said that she had been silenced and intimidated, but that she would no longer be silent.
"Mr. Christie, you are a brute and the days when you call me a liar and destroy my life are over," she said. "The truth will be heard, and for the former governor, this truth will be inevitable, no matter what the lucrative television contracts or campaigns to come. I plan to insure myself.
Kelly's retrial against US District Judge Susan Wigenton in Newark took place after a federal appeals court quashed part of the corruption case against Kelly. She had been sentenced to 18 months in prison.
Wigenton dismissed Kelly's request for a home-arrest sentence, saying she had played an important role in the plot. "The facts spoke through SMS, testimonials and evidence," said the judge. "So many people have been affected by this. It gets lost in all that.
At the trial, Kelly testified that she had informed Christie in advance of the project to close the toll lanes on the bridge and that she had obtained her approval for what she considered. to be a legitimate traffic study. She claimed that the email "Traffic Problems" that she had sent to David Wildstein, the admitted brain who had developed the traffic blocking plan, was referring to the implementation of the study's traffic. And she said the other superiors in the governor's inner circle were all well aware of what was going on in Fort Lee long before it happened, and no one seemed to worry about it.
Christie has never been charged with or commited any wrongdoing, nor denied the project, but the high-profile case has helped to melt her presidential aspirations in 2016.
Kelly is the author of "infamous weather for" some traffic problems at Fort Lee, "an email sent shortly before the orange cones climb on the local toll lanes of the bridge." Was a piece of evidence key used against it.
Baroni and Kelly were eventually convicted of conspiring to divert public resources from the Port Authority, owner of the George Washington Bridge, to conduct a personal vendetta. Wildstein pleaded guilty and was a prosecution witness at the Bridgegate trial. He was sentenced to three years of probation and 500 hours of community service.
In her motion for review in the Supreme Court, Kelly's lawyers argued that the prosecution had criminalized the usual political behavior, "turning the federal judiciary into a ministry of Truth for every public official in the country."
In their statement, they stated that the basis of his conviction was the concealment of political motives for an otherwise legitimate official act. Taken seriously, they stated that such a legal standard would allow any federal, regional or national official to be charged on the basis of the allegation that someone would have lied while claiming act in the public interest.
"There is no way to make the law," they said. "Take the case of a secretary of cabinet who designates a friend to a public office, declaring him better qualified. Or an acting mayor who orders the repair of a pothole to reward the political base of his boss – justifying it for neutral political motives. "
Earlier this month, Baroni went to the Loretto Federal Correctional Institution, Pennsylvania, to begin serving his 18-month sentence for his role in the Bridgegate case. He joined Kelly in his appeal to the Supreme Court.
Ted Sherman can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @TedShermanSL. Facebook: @ TedSherman.reporter. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
Matt Arco can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on Twitter @MatthewArco or Facebook.
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