>> welcome to aljazeera america, i'm del walters. a news conference, and we'll bring it to you live. president obama launching a new program aimed at cutting unemployment through poverty and crime. >> we found out that it works. >> 50 years after the war on poverty, how the motor city is still struggling just to survive.

new jersey governor, chris christie under fire at this hour after closing the lanes on one of the world's busiest bridges. he said that he did so on purpose to cause a traffic jam. he's going to address reporters in just moments. all of this is said to be a payback against a local mayor who didn't support christie's election bid. the mayor said that it's pay back, and the governor said that he is outraged. we go to erica with more. > >> good morning, del, and the governor will be facing tough questions from reporters any minute now, since documents revealed yesterday showed that people close to the governor orchestrated this traffic jam at the base of the george washington bridge, which

is 'very busy bridge during rush hour back in september, and the reason, possible retribution against the mayor of who refused to back the governor's re-election campaign. >> who, in their right mind, would close down access to the busiest bridge in the world to send me a message? >> the mayor of fort lee, emergency energy, said that chris christie has a lot of explaining to do, after he said that closing the lanes was an act of retribution because he refused to endorse the republican governor during his re-election campaign, and others are demanding answers. >> what we see today is a sad day for new jersey. the documents that have been published are both shock and go out rage. and go out rage. they show government at its

worst. >> time for traffic problems in fort lee, wrote christie's chief of staff. the email wend to the chief of staff for christie. got it, was his response. >> i apparently got somebody mad at me. those emails are pretty damning. >> one month later, they closed two for four days, the time it took to drive to new york took four hours. >> it was backed up all the way on this street. and i was like 20 minutes later in school every day for that week. >> emergency responding,

including police officers searching for a missing four-year-old girl. >> america's governor, chris christie. >> as for christie, who won a landslide in november, he initially denied any involvement. >> i was actually the guy working. >> his statement now, i'm outraged and deeply saddened that not only was i misled by a member of my staff, but this completely inappropriate and unsanctioned conduct was made without my knowledge. >> now that we know it was manmade, we need apologies and explanations and people to be accountable. >> christie has already accepted two resignations from people associated with this bridge controversy and the governor insists that they did not resign because of this. one final note, we are just learning that the u.s. attorney in new jersey is opening an inquiry into what happened here. >> erica, thank you very much. and no secret by the way that

chris christie has his eyes on the white house. polls show him has a potential republican frontrunner in 2006, but will this news harm any potential bid? for that, we go to david schuster and you've been looking at the politics behind the christie move. >> it's 2 and a half years before the presidential campaign, but what's going on, there are advisers close to christie, and they are going across the country, trying to identify operatives, and it hasseers, and people who can bankroll campaigns, and as they try the possible candidates, now, fat chance now, chris. and the new york post, republicans read, chris in a jam. and now you have a lot of people frozen in place who might be incollide to say, wait a second. chris christie looks like a

straight shooter, and he looks like the republican for 2006, and let's put our money there. so what chris has to do is satisfy a couple of things in the news conference. he has to make sure that the strategists buy him time, and he has to come up with a plausible story to satisfy the grand jury in new jersey, paul fish man, who has the same job as chris christie did, as prosecutors. and they will be testifying, and chris christie has to testify. and if any one of them comes out and says, chris christie with a wink and a nod told me to do this, then the story gets held up and it's worse than now. >> and it's a national story as well, because there are those inside of the republican party who did not the chris christie, because he's considered to be more democrat than republican. >> there are people supporting marco rubio and paul jindal

enjoying this, because they're looking at polls in iowa, the first caucuses, and chris christie was competitive. so there's a huge fight now to try to identify those nationwide. and the rivals of chris christie, and nobody wishes this on a member of their own party, but in a republican race in politics, you can bet there are those close to marco rubio and bobby jindal enjoying this. >> we are expecting chris christie to speak any moment now, but as we await the news conference to begin -- here is governor christie coming to the podium. >> coming back here to this office where i've been many times before, and i come out here today to apologize to the people of new jersey. i apologize to the people of fort lee, and i apologize to the

members of the state legislature. i am embarrassed and humiliated by the conduct of some of the people on my team. there's no doubt in my mind that the conduct that they exhibited is completely unacceptable and showed a lack of respect for their appropriate role of government, and for the people that we're trusted to serve. two pieces to what i want to talk about today. the first is, i believe that all of the people who were affected by this conduct deserve this apology, and that's why i'm giving it to them. i also need to apologize for my

failure, as the governor of this state, to understand the true nature of this problem sooner than i did. but i believe i have an understanding now of the true nature of the problem, and i've taken the following action as a result. this morning, i've terminated the employment of bridget kelly, effective immediately. i terminated her employment because she lied to me. i brought my senior staff together about four weeks ago tomorrow, and i put to all of them one simple challenge. if there is any information that you know about the decision to close these lanes in fort lee, you have one hour to tell either

my chief of staff, kevin o'dowd, or my chief council, charlie mckenna. i told them that in an hour, i was going to go out in a press conference, and if no one gave me any information to the contrary, i was going to say that no one on my staff was involved in this matter. over the course of the next hour, kevin and charlie interviewed each member of any senior staff, came back and reported to me that they all reported that there was no information, other than what we already knew, that had been testified to by senator veroni, regarding this incident. i then questioned kevin and charlie directly, since they're the only two that report directly to me, and they assured

me that they had no information that would change my ability to say that no one, in response to angie's question, on my staff, was involved in this matter. that was obviously a lie. and the emails that i saw for the first time yesterday morning, when they were broken i believe the record story, proved that was a lie. there's no justification for that behavior. there's no justification for ever lying to a governor or person in authority. and i terminated bridget's authority this morning.

second, i continued yesterday to have once again one-on-one discussions myself with the remaining members of my senior staff to determine if there's any other information that i do not know or need to know in order to take appropriate action. i've not completed with those interviews yet. but when i am, if there's additional information that needs to be clod disclosed i wio so. if there are additional actions that need to be taken with my senior staff, i will do so. i will tell you though, it has been written a lot over the last couple of days about what a tight-knit staff i have, and how closely everyone works together, and that's true. since the time i was u.s. attorney, i've engendered the

sense and the feeling among the people closest to me that we're family, and we tell the truth and we support each other when we need to be supported and we admonish when we need to be admonished. i am heartbroken tha that that someone that i permitted to be in that circle of trust in the last five years would break my trust. i would have never come out here five weeks ago and made a joke about these lane closures if i had ever had an inkling that anyone on my staff would have been so stupid but to be involved, and then so deceitful as to not disclose the information of their involvement to me, when directly asked by their superior. and those questions were not asked by the way, just once.

they were asked repeatedly. so i take this action today, because it's my job. i am responsible for what happened. i am sad to report to the people of new jersey that we fell short. we fell short of the expectations that we have created over the last four years for the type of excellence in government that they should expect from this office. but i have repeatedly said to them that while i promised them the best governor's office that i can give them, i can never promise a perfect governor's office. so when i find those imperfections, those lies, my obligation as chief executive of this state is to act. and as to bridget kelly, i've acted today. secondly, i was disturbed by the

tone and behavior and attitude, callous indifference, that was displayed in the emails of my former campaign manager, bill steffen. and reading that, it made me loss my confidence in bill's judgment. and you cannot have someone at the top of your political operation who you do not have confidence in. as a result, i've instructed bill to not place his name in nomination for state party chairman, and he will not be considered for state party chairman, and i have instructed him to withdraw his consult see with the republican governor's association.

if i can not trust him, i would not instruct others to do so. and i will not place him at the top of my operation because of the emails revealed yesterday. that has also been commuted to mr. sep-in last night. there's no doubt that bill has been one of my closest advisers over the last five years. so for that too i am sad today to have to take this action, but i also know that i have a job to do. it's a job that i've been entrusted with, and i can never allow personal feelings or long-standing relationships to get in my way.

but i don't want any of you to confuse what i'm saying this morning. ultimately, i am responsible for what happens under my watch. the good and the bad. and when mistakes are made, then i have to own up to them, take the action that i believe is necessary in order to remediate them. as i mentioned to you earlier, i spent all day yesterday digging in and talking to folks and getting to the bottom of things. i know there was much discuss yesterday of what was i doing? well, let me tell you, everybody. i was blind sided yesterday morning. i was done with my workout yesterday morning and got a call from my communications director at about 8:50, 8:55, informing

me of the story that first broke. this was the first time i knew about this, and the first time i had seen any of the documents that were revealed yesterday. so before i came out and spoke to all of you, i wanted to do the best i could to get to the bottom on some of this, so what when i came out i could answer questions as best i can, and take appropriate action if action is necessary. there's no doubt from reading those emails yesterday, in my mind, that action was necessary, and then i wanted to make sure that i spoke to those people who advised me to make sure that if there was any other information that they were aware of, that i had it before i acted. i'm going to continue this process. i couldn't get it all done yesterday. but as i said, if there's any information that i cover, i'll act on it accordingly before releasing it to the public, and taking any action if necessary

if any is, for any other issues, and also, i will react to any information that's coming from anyplace else. given that there's no aig investigation, or legislative investigation. later today, i'm going to be going to fort lee and ask to meet with the mayor to apologize face-to-face, and also to apologize to the people of fort lee in their town. i think they need to see me do that personally. and i intend to do that later on today. people of those communities for four days were impacted in a completely callous and indifferent way. and i'm going to apologize for that. let me conclude with this. thithis notthe tone that i've se last four years in this

building. the environment that i have worked to achieve. we saw in the last four years republicans and democrats working together. not without argument. government is never without argument. but ultimately coming to resolution on so many different issues in a bipartisan way and running a campaign that was in fact a bipartisan campaign, so i'm extraordinarily disappointed by this. but this is the exception. it's not the rule what has happened in the last four years of this administration. i have considered it, over the last four years, to be my job, as governor of new jersey, republican and democrat, or unaffiliated. and i've worked with elected officials on both sides of the aisle. ones that i agree with, and ones that i disagree with. the political overtones that were exhibited in the documents

released yesterday is not acceptable. but people, i think, all across this state understand. understand that human beings are -- when that information comes into my possession that i consider it, and act as swiftly as possible to remediate whatever ill occurred. that's what i've done today. actions have consequences. i'm living up to that right now. and i'll say one last thing just so we're really clear. i had no knowledge or involvement in this issue, in its planning or it's execution, and i am stunned by the abject

stupidity that was shown here, regardless of what the facts ultimately uncover. this was handled in a callous and indifferent way, and it's not the way this administration has conducted itself over the last four years, and not the way that it will conduct itself over the next four. i will do everything in my power to ensure the people of new jersey that, and i thank them for their willingness to consider my apology on behalf of this government. in the end, i have 65,000 people working for me every day, and i cannot know what each one of them is doing at every minute. but that doesn't matter. i'm ultimately responsible for what they do. and that's why i took this action. >> reporter: governor, beyond the policies and termination,

what other concrete steps do you plan for the people of new jersey and the country, that you want to change the perception of what has happened here? and will that include working cooperatively with the investigation? [ inaudible ] >> yeah, and i apologize for that story, david, because i was led to believe by folks around me -- let's be fair, there have been times when there have been investigations around here that have led to nothing and had no basis, but i was wrong. and so now having been proven wrong, of course we'll work cooperatively with the investigations, and i'm going through examination as i told you, talking to the people who

work for me, not only to discover if there's any information that i need to find, but also to ask them how did this happen? how did this occur to us? i think -- listen, as i said before, i've had a tight group of people who i trust implicitly. i had no reason to believe they weren't telling me the truth. it is heartbreaking to me that i wasn't told the truth. i'm a very loyal guy, and i expect loyalty in return. and lying to me is not an exhibition of loyalty. you know, i'm going to look into this personally, it's my responsibility, david. and what steps we'll take after that, if there are concrete steps beyond what i've done today, we'll certainly talk about it. if not, i'll just say, listen, we have gotten to the bottom of

this. and we're going to move in with a new team coming in as well, who i'm trying to integrate also in the next couple of weeks. so there will be a lot of action going on. >> reporter: [ inaudible ] >> i'm not, kelly -- everybody in the country who engages in politics knows that, and on the other hand, that's very very different from saying that someone is a bully. i have very heated discussions and arguments with people in my own party, and on the other side of the aisle. i feel passionately about the issues. and i don't hide any emotions from people. i'm not a focus group tested candidate or governor. that has always made some

people, as you know, uneasy. some people like that style. and some people don't. and i've always said, i think you asked me a question after the election, are you willing to change your style in order to appeal to a broader audience, and i think i said no. because i am who i am. but i'm not a bully, and what i will tell you is, the folks who have worked with me over a long period of time will i believe tell you that i'm tough, but i've shown over the last four years in the tone that we've set here that i'm willing to compromise and work with others, and the campaign showed all of the folks who came from the other side of the aisle to support us, that if we had not had a relationship with those folks, it would not have happened that way. and i don't believe that, and i don't believe that the body of work in the last four years displays that. now, in this instance, the

language used and the context of those emails is unacceptable to me. and i will not tolerate it. but the best i can do is when i see stuff like that, to end it. and i know that won't satisfy everybody. but i'm not in the business of satisfying everybody. i'm in the business of satisfying the people who elected me governor. michael? >> reporter: [ unintelligible ] there was no one above the campaign manager. yeah, but michael, their role in the campaign was not the day-to-day operation of the campaign. that was bill's main task.

mike was the general consultant and he dealt with tv ads and mail pieces. so the day-to-day operation of the campaign, yes, i spoke in my two discussions yesterday. angie. guys, we don't work that way. >> reporter: [ inaudible ] i'm smart enough now. i don't have any evidence i can tell that you now, i have to be much more circumspect about that. prior to yesterday, i believe that if i look someone in the

eye who i trusted, i will get an honest answer. maybe that's naive, but that's what i believe. so now i'm digging in and asking more questions. four weeks ago, i ended up being wrong. absolutely no. until it starts, senator veroni testified there was a traffic study. there still may have been a traffic study that has political overtones to it as well. i don't know the answer to that. we're going to find out, jennifer veroni gave all kinds of information that seemed to evidence a traffic study.

so why would i believe that anybody would have not told the truth about that. but the fact is that regardless of all of that, you know, it's clear now that in the minds of some people, there were political overtones, or political side deals on this, and that's unacceptable. so i don't know, but it appeared in a there was one, based on what i saw in the testimony, but regardless of whether there was or wasn't, there were clearly some political overtones that were evident in those emails and messages that were never ever brought to my attention until yesterday. >> reporter: