September 10, 2016
A New Jersey judge has ruled that Gov. Chris Christie's personal email be searched or that he must prove that it already has in order to comply with public record laws, according to The Record, a North Jersey newspaper.
The Record sued the governor's office after it sent back 90 pages in documents, with 56 of those heavily redacted, that were a response to a request for emails and other documents between Christie, his aides, Democratic Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop and the Port Authority.
The public information request was filed by North Jersey Media Group, The Record's publisher.
The newspaper also contended that the office did not send over personal emails as originally requested. Judge Mary Jacobson of Superior Court in Mercer County ordered for the personal emails to be searched because investigators digging into the George Washington Bridge scandal revealed that the New Jersey governor was using the account for personal business matters.
The Record is pressing for the information for a number of reasons, including to further report on the scandal, known as Bridgegate.
On Thursday, the jury selection process began for the criminal case.
Bridget Kelly, the governor's former deputy chief of staff and Bill Baroni, deputy chief executive director of the agency that oversees the George Washington bridge are facing wire fraud and civil rights counts, according to the Associated Press.
It's not clear if Christie, who hasn't been charged in the case and says he had no part in the scandal, will testify.
Christie's former aides are being investigated to find what part they played in the scandal – it's thought that officials closed two lanes of the bridge to seek revenge against Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich, a Democrat, who didn't endorse Christie in his 2013 reelection.
