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| SAMPLE FEDERAL SUBPOENA |
The U.S. Attorney for New Jersey has issued a subpoena for documents to both the Christie for Governor reelection campaign and the New Jersey Republican State Committee, an attorney for both organizations confirmed today.
According to attorney Mark Sheridan, the subpoenas request documents from the two organizations in relation to the investigation into lane diversions at the George Washington Bridge in September.
Both organizations are represented by the law firm of Patton Boggs, which has offices in Newark. In a statement to NJ.com, Sheridan said the following:
"The Christie for Governor re-election campaign and the New Jersey Republican State Committee received subpoenas for documents from the U.S. Attorney's office, in addition to the subpoena the campaign previously received from the state legislative committee. All three subpoenas focus on the closure of lanes on the George Washington Bridge. The campaign and the state party intend to cooperate with the U.S. Attorney's office and the state legislative committee and will respond to the subpoenas accordingly.''
Calls to both the Christie reelection campaign and the state GOP committee for comment were not immediately returned.
The U.S. Attorney's subpoenas follow a round of 20 issued last week by the Assembly committee conducting its own investigation into the lane diversion scandal, which has quickly morphed into a nightmare for the governor.
Email records released earlier this month show a member of his administration was involved in the lane closures, from the beginning. While the Port Authority officials responsible for the controversy claimed the lane diversions were part of a traffic study, the email traffic hints it was done as a form of political retribution.
The governor is now facing potential federal involvement on two fronts. Last night, NBC reported FBI agents were questioning Hoboken employees in connection with claims from Mayor Dawn Zimmer that the administration threatened to choke off Hurricane Sandy relief if she failed to support a development project favored by the governor.
Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno, who Zimmer said issued the threat, has vehemently denied the accusation, but last night agents questioned two of Zimmer's closes advisors.
Meanwhile, the investigation by the Assembly committee is expected to merge Monday with the probe underway by a Senate committee. Response to the subpoenas issued in that investigation are due in early February.
To date, no evidence has surfaced that connects Christie himself to the lane closures, however, the scandal already has claimed the jobs of Port Authority officials Bill Baroni and David Wildstein as well as Christie administration Deputy Cheif of Staff Bridget Kelly, the staffer who was implicated by an email she sent in August apparently ordering the lane diversions.
"Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee," she emailed a month before the lanes were diverted, to which Wildstein replied, "Got it."
The administration also cut ties with Christie's two-time campaign manager, Bill Stepien, who Christie said he had lost faith in after reading emails between Stepien and Wildstein showing Stepien discussing the media reaction to the lane closures with Wildstein.
Article form NJ.com
