your day each weekday morning 5:00 to 9:00. and you don't want to miss it tomorrow morning we'll see you back here tomorrow night. thanks for joining us. hope you'll join us this is a fox news alert. the mayor of fort lee, new jersey says he accepts governor christie's apology. short time ago, governor chris christie and the mayor coming face to face and the mayor saying he takes christie for his word, that he had nothing to do with the traffic jam. so, is the scandal now just water under the bridge or is this a scandal just getting started? come out here today to it apologize for 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 is 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 were trusted to serve. two pieces of 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 to them 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 have taken the following action as a result. this morning i have terminated the employment of brigitte kelly, effective immediately. i have terminated her employment because she lied to me. i brought my senior staff together i think about four weeks ago tomorrow and i put to all of them one simple challenge. if it 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 odowd or my chief counsel charlie okenna.

i told them in an hour i was going to go out in a press conference and, if no one gave me other information to the contrary, that 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 my 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 barony, regarding this incident. i then questioned kevin odowd and charlie mckenna directly since they are the only two who report directly to me, and they assured me that they had no information that would change my ability, to be able to say that no one 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 broken and then i believe the records story proved that that was a lie. ' no justification for that behavior. no justification for ever lying to a governor or a person in authority in this government. and as a result, i have terminated brigitte's employment immediately this morning. secondly, i have and will continue to, started yesterday, to once again now have personal one-on-one discussions myself with the remaining members of my

senior staff to determine if there is any other information that i do not know and need to know in order to take appropriate action. i'm not completed with those interviews yet. but when i am, if there is additional information that needs to be disclosed, i will do. 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's 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 is true. and ever since the time i was u.s. attorney, i have engendered the sense and feeling among the people closest to me that we're a family and we work together and we tell each other the truth. we support each other when we need to be supported. and admonish each other when we need to be

admonished. i am heart-broken that someone who i permitted to be in that circle of trust for the last five years betrayed my trust. i would never have come out here four or 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 as to just not disclose the information of their involvement to me when directly asked by their superior. 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 oi can give them, i could never promise them a perfect governor's office. and so when i find those imperfections, those mistakes, those lies, my obligation as the chief executive of this state is to act and ask to brigitte kelly, i have acted today. secondly, i was disturbed by the tone and behavior and attitude callus indifference that was displayed in the

emails by my former campaign manager bill stepian. and reading that it made me lose 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 have instructed bill steppian 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 consultanyy for the republican governor's. if i can not trust his judgment i cannot others to do. so i would not place him at the head of my political operation because of the lack of judgment that was shown in the emails that were revealed yesterday.

that has also been communicated to mr. steppian last night. there is no doubt that bill has been one of my closest advisors over the last five years. and 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, and it's the job that i have asked the people of new jersey to entrust me with and i can never allow personal feelings or long standing relationships to get in the way of doing my job the way it's appropriate to do it. 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 and 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 to talking to folks and getting to the bottom of things. i know there was much discussion yesterday about what was i doing? well, let me tell you, everybody, i was blind sided yesterday morning. i was done with my workout of yesterday morning. and got a call from my communications director at about 8:50. 8:55 informing me of this story that had just broken on the web site. that was first time i knew about. this the first time i have seen any of the documents that were revealed

yesterday. and so before i came out and spoke to all of you, i wanted to do the best i could to try to get the bottom of some of this so that when i came out i could answer questions as best i can and take appropriate action, if action was necessary. there is no doubt from reading those emails yesterday, in my mind, that action was necessary and then i wanted to mike sure that i spoke to those people who advised me to make sure if there was any other information 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, and as i said, if there is is more information that i undercover, i will act accordingly in terms of releasing it to the public and taking whatever action may be necessary, if any is, for any other issues. and also will react to any information coming from any place else. given that there is an oig investigation and a

legislative investigation. later today, i'm going to be going to fort lee. asked to meet with the mayor to apologize to him personally 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 days were impacted in a completely callus and indifferent way. and i'm going to go and apologize for that. let me conclude with this. this is not the tone that i have said -- set over the last four years in this building. it's not the environment i have worked so hard to achieve. we saw just a few months ago and i have seen over the course of the last four years, republicans and democrats working together. not without argument.

governments never without argument. but ultimately coming to resolution on some different issues in a bipartisan way and running a campaign that was, in fact a bipartisan campaign. and so i am extraordinarily disappointed by this. but this is the exception. it is not the rule of what's happened over the last four years in this administration. i have considered it over the last four years to be my job to be the governor of every new jerseyian, republican, democrat, independent or unaffiliated. and i have 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 those documents released yesterday and the conduct by those people is not acceptable. but people, i think all across this state understand

that human beings were not perfect. and mistakes are made. and i believe what they expect of me as the chief executive of this state is when that information comes in to my possession that i consider it and then act as swiftly as possible to remediate whatever ill occurred. that's what i have done today. actions have consequences. and i'm living up to that right now. and i will say one last thing, just so we are really clear. i had no knowledge or involvement in this issue, in its planning or its 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 callus and indifferent way, and it is not the way this administration has conducted itself over the last four years. and not the way it will conduct itself over the next four. i will do everything within my power to assure 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. 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 issues. and i don't hide my emotions from people. i am not a focused group

tested, blow dried candidate. or governor. now, that has always made some people as you know uneasy. some people like that style. some people don't. and i have always said i think you asked me a question the day after the election, are you willing to change your style in order to appeal broader audience? i think i said no. because i am who i am. but i am not a bully. >> well, that press conference lasting almost two hours. governor christie practically wearing out the media karl rove is here to tell us what he thinks about it next. @w@wowowpg÷÷owúç÷gçng

this is a fox news alert. six new jersey residents have just filed a federal lotz lawsuit against governor chris christie, the state of new jersey and the port authority of new york and new jersey. the suit is the first civil claim over traffic jams that appear to be politically motivated. lawyer rosemary arnold said she filed the lawsuit after learning the lane closures were deliberate action. she said her clients were late for work and one even suffered a panic attack. governor christie has denied all involvement. karl rove joins us, good evening, karl. >> good evening, how are you? >> it seems like it's just starting, this bridge where 300,000 cars a day go over. this is not insignificant bridge but your thoughts about governor christie tonight. >> well, i thought the news conference was classic christie. direct, blunt, to the point, there was no equivocation. the mistakes ultimately were his responsibility. actions, decisions, tough decisions had to be made. he fired his chief of staff, distanced himself from his long-time campaign manager. had previously, i believe,

accepted the resignation of appointee to the authority. he made clear these people had lied to him, had mislead him and that was unacceptable behavior. i thought it was a good first step. i thought it was also good that he said he was going to fort lee to apologize personally to the mayor and if the mayor wouldn't see him, he was going to apologize to the people of fort lee for having cause such disruption in his life. i thought it was pretty direct. pretty straightforward. refreshing for a leader to step forward and do that. if i -- if i was critical, i would be critical of two things. first of all, he talked about firing his chief of staff because she had lied to him. i wish there had been a little bit more emphasis on the fact that she not only lied to him but also that she had taken actions which were not in keeping with the tone and responsibilities of his administration she had done bad things. the other thing is that in politics it's sometimes very easy to say what we are not. it's harder to say what we are, i think governor

christie is probably going to look back and regret saying i'm not a bullying. that phrase is going to linger and not to his ad vantage. it would have been better if he had said as governor, i had hoped that my administration, i insist that my administration serve all the people in new jersey the best way we possibly can without regard to partisan considerations and politics and this did not happen. people's lives were disrupted. people's lives were bridge to manhattan and it was simply unacceptable that that should not have -- that should never have happened. instead, it was more like he fired her because she lied to him which was, you know, wrong, reprehensible but part of a bigger problem. >> all right a couple things. one is the news just broke s ago that the mayor of fort lee has accepted the governor's apology and said i take him at his word that he had nothing to do with it that's good for the governor. senator lindsey graham has been quoted as saying the controversy really plays into what you just said

reinforces the image of bully. now, do you think anyone's opinion changed of governor christie today and assuming that there are no other skeletons in the closet we take him at his word he doesn't know anything about is he still on the path to 2016, something that you mentioned in november he was on the path. >> yeah, look, you put your finger on the important point. if he told the truth today, which i think we have every reason to believe he did. that he did not know about these emails. that he was not aware of this activity. that he had been mislead and lied to by his standoff, that -- staff. that not was he lied to and that he and his chief of staff was lied, to if that turns out to be true, then, yes, i believe he has the capacity to move beyond. this if on the other hand there t. turns out there was somebody inside his inner circle that did make him aware of, this it would be a campaign ending event. i doubt that from what i know of chris christie and i

have known him a long time, this guy has got a lot of personal integrity and he is very straightforward. and when he says something, for good or for ill it's what he believes and it is what he is. >> it's interesting to note know, karl, even with this class action lawsuit if you are for or against him, he is a named defendant. and even if you are just a named witness in it, he will be deposed. he will be put under oath. this is not going away. we are going to hear a lot more plus from everybody else who may have a little information on this. >> yeah. and, look, he is the ostensible front runner a crowded republican field for 2016 which makes him not only the target of other republicans but also the target of people who are not republicans. the fact that he has been doing so well in the polls against hillary clinton, the presumptive democratic nominee, probably causes a lot of people on the left side of the political spectrum to do what they can to drag him down. but, look, let's put this in perspective. i think he probably did

himself a lot of good today by coming out and being so straightforward the question is going to be if in the weeks and months ahead do we find out things that contradict what he said today then he has got a problem. if not, i think it's going to look like, look, somebody picked up a phone, looked at the back of the phone book and picked up the phone and called somebody and said i want to see if i can get some money out of this. let's sue. that's one of the big problems with our society today is that we litigate more than we should. and i'm not certain that's necessarily a problem for him. >> okay. carl, stay right with us because we have much more to talk about. first, we want viewers to be the judge. do you believe governor christie, the mayor does, after watching the news conference, go to gretawire.com and vote in our poll right now gretawire.com. coming up, in the past, karl rove has called former defense secretary robert gates a patriot. what does he think now after secretary gates writes a tell-all book. karl rove about l. tell you next. house republicans demanding that attorney general eric holder take action. they are outraged over the

justice department's pick to leave the irs targeting investigation. so is the tea party boiling mad, too? you are going to hear from a tea party ;ñ;ñ;ñ

. get ready to speed read your way through the news. dennis rodman apologizing about the comments made about an american jailed in north korea. televised rant from north korea tuesday, rodman refused to help free kenneth bae and implied bae was at fault. now rodman is saying he is sorry and that he had been drinking before that outburst. bae's family says they accept those apologies. rocket full of supplies is on its way to the international space station. unmanned rocket taking off from virginia. the launch was slightly delayed due to duck hunters in the area. deliver equipment food and ants for science project. it will arrive at the space station on sunday. and for just $10, ladies, can you win a date with george clooney. you heard right the movie stars offering one lucky fan for a chance.

premier of new movie the monument's men. that grand prize and contest that benefits the satellite sentinel project. that's a group that monitors the border between sudan and south sudan. the group tried to identify potential threats to civilians and deter crimes against humanity. and that is tonight's speed read. and now to the book that has not even hit the shelves but has the entire nation already talking. it's a tell-all by former defense secretary robert gates. in the book, secretary gates blasting president obama's leadership in the afghanistan war. but also saying he thinks president obama was right in all of his decisions. karl rove is back with us. carl, going to the last segment, i repeated what you said once about secretary gates he is a patriot. still think that? >> yes, i do. i know there is a controversy over whether or not somebody who served in the administration should write a book that is published while that president is still in office. i wrote a book about my time in the bush administration. it came out two years after.

secretary gates wrote this book. he left in 2011. my understanding is, is that this book was ready and could have been released in 2012. but he held it past the 2012 election. and before people get too critical of the president or excuse me of secretary gates for having written this book. and published it now, they ought to be careful because secretary clinton has written a book about her time in the obama administration and it comes out in june. two and a half years before president obama leaves office. you know, people have different ways of looking at this. i understand that they come to different positions. some people say i want to wait and let the man i served leave office. others say i believe strongly the issues that i have dealt with. i want to speak about now. that's frankly a personal choice. >> one of the items from the book and i feel a little bit like the healthcare bill is that nobody got to read it and we are all talking about it got excerpts and try to make the best of what we have. one of the discussions is about president obama's thoughts on afghanistan. and the press secretary jay carney said when president

obama inherited the war from president bush 43, your former boss, it was in disdisarray by the judgment of many. what do you think about that? >> look, i think that's revisionism. let's step back and take a broader view of what the excerpts tell us about president obama. they tell us, first of all, when he talked about afghanistan being the right war, during 2007 and 2008, how we have taken our eye off of the ball by focusing on iraq when we should have been focused on winning afghanistan, that that was just merely political rhetoric. we know from secretary gates' excerpts that president obama did not believe his own surge strategy, that he did not think particularly highly of our chances for success in afghanistan, and that his principle goal was not to win but to get america out. and so i think -- i think that's very damaging criticism of president obama. and, in addition, i'm sorry?

>> go ahead. go ahead. >> in addition, i was struck by the point that secretary gates made about how secretary clinton and president obama had an exchange in which they basically both acknowledged that they had opposed the surge in iraq in 2007 primarily because of politics. they were running against each other and afraid if they didn't oppose the surge in iraq which turned out to be a successful strategy, which won the war in iraq, which has now been frittered away by the diplomacy of this current administration. they both opposed it not out of policy out of politics that to me is pretty astonishing. >> the last word on this, what i would like to hear from secretary clinton and president obama on that particular point, whether their opposition was political or not. i would like to hear him respond to what secretary gates says. because i think that's a very important point. >> silence will give confirmation, in my opinion. >> carl, always nice to he

see you. >> thank you, appreciate it, greta. >> thank you. straight ahead, republicans in the house oversight committee are calling it unbelievable and highly inappropriate. you have to hear hot justice department just picked to investigate the irs targeting scandal. what does the tea party have to say? our next and ah, so you can see like right here i can just... you know, check my policy here, add a car, ah speak to customer service, check on a claim...you know, all with the ah, tap of my geico app. oh, that's so cool. well, i would disagree with you but, ah, that would make me a liar. no dude, you're on the jumbotron! whoa. ah...yeah, pretty much walked into that one. geico anywhere anytime. just a tap away on the geico app.

okay. let's all go off-the-record for a minute and what is my thought tonight? it's tricky tricky tricky, that's what politics is all about. everyone is trying to game everyone. perfect example? president obama's proposed promise zones. unlike other proposed economic zones, which are only tax relief ideas to encourage business. president obama's promise zones have a price tag in addition to price tags. they are going to cost $750 million. don't get me wrong, i want to help poor communities with good ideas. that's not the point of this off-the-record, it's the tricky, tricky, tricky politics of it think about it. president obama five locations promise zones.

one is southeastern kentucky. lots of poor communities in the nation. why kentucky? that is because that's senator mitch mcconnell's state and he is in a very tough primary race with a tea party opponent. here is senator mcconnell's choice now. can he vote for president obama's plan, which means more spending, $750 million worth, which republicans especially tea party hate or vote against it in which his general election will run ads that he turned down a chance to help poor people in kentucky. what do you think? president obama said to senator mcconnell today private in white house my guess: gotcha. that's my off-the-record comment tonight. if you have an important story or issue you think i should take off-the-record go to gretawire.com and tell us about it house republicans outraged over the justice department's pick to lead the irs targeting probe. targeting probe. find out what the tea party [ male announcer ] here's a question for you:

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nuclear? or renewables like solar... and wind? let's find out. this is where america's electricity comes from. a diversity of energy sources helps ensure the electricity we need is reliable. take the energy quiz. energy lives here. s to this sound like the fox guarding the chicken coop. leading obama campaign donor to lead the targeting of tea party groups. justice department trial lawyer barbara boxerman will lead the investigation into the targeting of conservative groups. and now outraged house republicans commanding attorney general eric holder remove boxerman immediately from the investigation. tea party executive nora bigs joins us. nice to he see you,. >> happy new year. gave in 2004. gave 400 to the dnc. 450 to the 2008 to the obama

campaign. $3,600 in 2012. $2,000. do you have any problem with her investigating it? >> i have a big problem with this. this is turning into what was a political travesty is now a political circus. i fully expect to show up at my next committee hearing and see people wearing clown shoes and putting dunking group and selling funnel cakes. when i come up here tonight i drove past the supreme court building. i looked at that building all lit up, and it says on the front equal justice under law. that's exactly what we are looking for here in the irs scandal case. that's exactly what we are not finding. this is just one more layer upon layer that has come that is denying us justice. >> how would you suggest that they select a lawyer within the justice department? >> well, you know, they have 10,000 plus lawyers in the justice department. i don't know how many. it's a huge number. >> they do have a lot. >> it is enormous. out of all of those. to fix this investigation into the irs scandal. they just happen to pick a

lawyer that gave $6,000 to president obama. i find that very difficult to swallow. and i think to answer your question the way they should pick them is just right names of lawyers on ping-pong balls, put them in the bin like the lottery and point them out neutral. >> i have a different thought on this. i think this looks bad. it doesn't give confidence right from the get-go. you know, why you want to start investigation by making at least one of the parties feel very uncomfortable, i think the justice department can't go wrong asking how much money did you give north to select how-to-who to investigate. barbara boxerman is a member of the bar. one of the things avoid the appearance of the conflict of interest. not even necessarily the real thing. i actually think that she should have declined. >> i agree with that i absolutely. i would have in her place. but, of course if there is something going on behind it and we don't know that for sure right nau. but, if this is a political note investigation like the rest of the irs scandal has been it fits the pattern is what i would say. i think they need to replace

her, period. >> actually, i think that she should decline to do the investigation. there is obviously a letter that eric holders that, -- that chairman issa has written to attorney general eric holder you have seen the letter. >> i have seen the letter just briefly. i also saw the article in a paper that talked about chairman issa's views on this. i saw him interviewed. basically he is saying that they have been stonewalled. you know, congressional committee being stonewalled by the fbi and the justice department. is he extremely frustrated and i don't blame him. i have been in those hearings. i have never heard so many people talk so much and say so little in the witness chair. >> all right. well my advice to barbara k. boxerman is to avide even the appearance of impropriety or conflict of interest. and for the integrity of the investigation she may be the fairest person in the world. it would be so much wiser in light of all her contributions that she decline. we will see what happens. larry, nice to see you. >> thanks a lot. we are still looking for equal justice on the law. >> indeed. governor christie is 2016

republican favorite. will bridge gate lead to a rocky road at the white house. political panel is here next. don't want to miss that super bowl winner imos to disney world. where does justin timberlake go after winning

okay, everyone, time to hash it out. forget fancy award show after parties. fast food joints are where the real winners celebrate. justin timberlake tweeted this picture on instagram. what do we do after winning three people's choice awards taco bell. treating himself to late night snack behind the register with employees. taking home awards for favorite artist. favorite r and b and

favorite album. toddler sings wrecking ball puts miley cyrus in her place. the little girl starts out mouthing the lyrics. as soon as the chorus hits she goes all in dancing and singing along. ♪ i came in like a wrecking ball ♪ i never hit the wall at all ♪ all i wanted was to break your walls. >> that is a performance, talk about karma. the lead tweeting high school hockey player's cheap shot fails miserably exclamation into the glass. goes toward opponent trying to check him after the whistle blows but the competitor quickly slips away sending the player smack into the board. ouch. now it's your time to hash it out with us. use tash tag greta in all your tweets and posts, coming up governor christie firing people and saying he is sorry. is that enough? will the traffic scandal continue to take a toll? our political panel is here next.

24 hours after a traffic scandal makes national headlines, governor chris christie fires a top aide and gives campaign manager the boot. elise viebeck and ed o'keefe and washington examiner susan. elise, first to you, do you think anybody's opinion has changed of governor chris christie in the last 48 hours? >> no, i don't really think so. i think christie acquitted himself pretty well today. he came across as confident. he said that he aspired someone showing action. i think that in general everyone, he did what he was expected to do. >> and is this a local story or should people in my hometown in wisconsin care about this one. >> they should care if he runs for president. i think what will happen now is that, he yes, he did everything he had to do today, pr 101 to admit you were wrong, apologize, take action and answer every last question there was from reporters. now it opens the door to any other sort of incident last few years he has been governor where he may have

bull idea someone or where his staff may have taken retribution. there have been some documented and others not explored as much. democrats have said now you have excuse to go after all these other stories you haven't heard about but haven't necessarily reported. >> lindsey graham reported in one news organization saying it confirms the reputation that he has is he a bully. that's not very good when a fellow republican says that. >> or that he is vindictive. don't forget he has been vindictive. he wasn't chosen to be a vice presidential candidate. he has already had a bit of a reputation for being vindictive. however, i think he can survive this because it's 2014. he has got a long time for this to become old news, given the short news cycle, the short attention span. however, this could be a real problem for him. if the new jersey newspapers keep digging at this. they may have more information that they could have more foias out there if there is any way this is linked to him. >> if he is 100% clean on

the mark if it happened today exactly everything, no impact? >> no, not necessarily. there is a federal investigation, how closely will that tie him, it keeps the story going. they have to release their findings. there will be hearings. you know in new jersey, the democrats will try to keep this in the news, because they want to protect the democratic candidate for president. >> also the breaking news tonight, elise, that there is a class action lawsuit filed in connection with with it whether it's a good lawsuit or frivolous or whatever it still means it's going to drag out. and now everyone is potentially under oath. not just at a microphone. >> that's right. >> that includes the fired aide. >> that's right. i don't think the details are fully out here. i think christie is going to have to answer for any tiniest implication that he was involved. if there is any record at all, it will come out as a result of these investigations. there is something like four now. so i think that this story isn't over. certainly, and i think the biggest danger for him is that it contributes to it this narrative that is he vindictive. >> let's just remember if

someone is prosecuted for this and it was like a second degree offense and there is i think a 10 year prison sentence someone could get, there will be negotiations here for someone to get a plea deal, perhaps. they are going to be looking for information about what christie's connections are to this. that may produce a different end result than if there wasn't a federal investigation. >> and for voters, you know, just how people can walk into the waiting room now, have problems with their healthcare and blame the president, any time people get into traffic now they are going to be thinking about chris christie. >> that bridge is amazing for people who don't understand it, 300,000 cars a day -- >> -- on a good day. >> take a half an hour to get over that bridge. >> this is not insignificant. the mayor of fort lee, he said on wednesday he referred to the governor, he called the governor's involvement in the scandal a venomous form of political retaliation. enough to today he says that the governor ed was gracious and apologetic and he believes what he said. >> this is part of why what christie did today was so brilliant from a p.r. or

sort of campaign advisor perspective. he did everything professionals would tell him to do. he apparently talked to everyone before he went out and talked about it he then, again, he apologized. he fired somebody. he sat there and rung reporters dry by taking almost two hours worth of questions. and then he goes to fort lee and meets with the guy. and allows this to happen. allows the photos to be taken, lous the cameras to show him. >> and he went there with the mayor. >> just 48 hours ago was calling him a piece of garbage. >> he lived up to, christie lived up to christie. >> exactly. >> he has a reputation as a straight shooter, charismatic man. man of the people. hard to live up to that. in the middle of the scandal he managed to pull that off. >> wore off the media not the longest but pretty long. >> he absolutely did. so funny, all kinds of journalists complaining on twitter going on too long. you think journalists would want the opportunity to ask as many questions as possible to elected official. >> i will tell you who wasn't impressed his opponent when he ran for governor barbara bueno.

she says he runs a paramilitary organization, very disciplined and he basically didn't buy what he gled she was saying that during her campaign but she has done more tv in the last 48 hours than she did over the course of that campaign. people now want to talk to her. she wasn't able to generate that kind of interest or concern during the campaign. she has got a great case of -- going on right now. it's too late. >> 30 seconds. >> she has a great point. he hand as a man of the people. what kind of man of the people shuts down a bridge so people can't get their kids to school and ambulances can't pick up the sick, you know. runs against that narrative. >> how does it play with independent voters who elected christie and who helped him? the democrats who ultimately sided with him? is his personality, the perception of him a liability? i think we have to see. >> we will see. panel, as always, thank you very much. thanks for being with us. just a reminder, if you are just getting home and tuning in before bill o'reilly that 8:00 show, pick up your dvr remote and set a recording for "on the record" each night. see you again tomorrow night right here go to gretawire.com. good night from washington.

>> a verto. you are brrrr to enter "red eye." >> are they training super bendy chicks to fit in storage bins? why frequent 234r50eu yes, sirs are thinking twice about their next vacation 1234*z and how many buffalo wings is the vice president planing to eat during >> 13,000. 13,000. >> and finally, could your dusty old cassette tapes be worth millions? our allstar panel will debate it anyway. none of these stories on "red eye" tonight. >> now let's welcome our guests. she is even adorable when biting the heads off kittens. i am here with