chris kelly is the mayor of west mifflin. he joins me live now from the site of the speech. ork force was at the heart of the president's speech last night. that visit today, to your town, what are you looking to hear from president obama about how to help those workers? >> i'm looking to hear that the industrial revolution is not dead, that we have longtime paying jobs here, good supporting family jobs, and we need to keep these in america. everybody can't live on the minimum wage act, and i'm hoping that there's some way that we can cut the trade deficit in half. >> the president, as we understand it, is also going to be talking specifically about my ra, the plan for those starter requirement accounts that he mentioned last night. we heard, as you just mentioned, we heard the president essentialier talking about raising the minimum wage. how far would those two things, specifically, raising the minimum wage and those starter requirement accounts. how far would those things go toward reducing inequality in west mifflin? >> well, the ria is at a starting point. i can't say th

chris christie did just that, calling the allegations a few weeks ago absurd. >> i know you guys are obsessed with this. i'm not. >> emails made public on wednesday revealed that bridget anne kelly, chris christie's deputy chief of staff had written to the agency overseeing the bridge. . >> there's no justification forever lying to a governor or a person in authority in this government. and as a result, i have terminated bridget anne kelly's employment immediately. >> chris christie said he asked bill steppian, another advisor to not seek the chairman of the republican party. >> 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 i believe is necessary. >> that action, said chris christie, included travelling to fort lee to apologise to commuters and officials. the mayor spoke after the meeting. >> i viewed it to be productive. with assurances this will not occur in the future. >> on wednesday the prosecutor's office of paul fishman will consider charges. david wildstein carried out the lane closures on instructions from chris christie's staff. >> i respectfully assert my right to

chris christie has decided that he no long eer trusts his deput chief of staff bridget kelly so he fired her. but he decided he does trust his keefe of staff kevin o'dowd and apparently he trusts him because chris christie has not yet read an e-mail from kevin o'dowd that proves he's lied to him. if you haven't proven on paper that you've lied to chris christie then he believes you. but what if he has lied to chris christie verbally, leaving no electronic record of his lie. what if kevin o'dowd was completely in on the conspiracy that the deputy chief of staff was involved in to block traffic at the george washington bridge. we now know we can't trust chris christie's judgment about who's telling the truth in his office. and chris christie's judgment of his chief of staff, kevin o'dowd is not just that he's completely innocent of any involvement in this case, but that kevin o'dowd should actually now become one of the prosecutors with jurisdiction over this case. that's right. chris christie wants to appoint kevin o'dowd to be the attorney general of new jersey. one of the smart question

yes, her, bridget kelly. chris christie's deputy chief of staff. the one who before the end of the summer would be ordering up traffic armageddon for the little town of ft. lee. well, this e-mail from june 20th is from mayor fulop's office to bridget kelly. "hi, bridget, great connecting with you this morning. i thought i had my hands full with three kids. impressed that you have four. i spoke with steven" meaning the mayor "about your mayor day program and i think it's a great idea." e-mail continues "there are so many complexities with local and state governments that a seamless transition can only benefit everyone. again, bridget, thank you for the conversation and the support." that e-mail goes out from mayor fulop's office on a thursday night, about 9:30 on a thursday night. within 25 minutes, bridget kelly and chris christie's office has written back already, c.c.ing the mayor directly, "thanks, veronica, i'm looking forward to working with you. congratulation, mayor-elect. we're looking forward to working closely with you and your administra

he's the one person who separates bridged anne kelly from chris christie. and it was chris christie's plan until now to make him the next attorney general of new jersey, and the senate was prepared to confirm him until we started talking about it and others immediately after his press conference. it was a routine moment in the press conference where he was asked, are you going to go forward with o'dowd for attorney general? he said oh, yeah, sure. i'm sure others were saying how can it be that the chief of staff of this gang that has pulled this thing off is now going to be the chief state prosecutor with jurisdiction over this case? that seems stopped as of now. it seems like o'dowd can go nowhere. >> except to a hearing to testify. i mean, i was just speaking with one of the legislators involved in the investigation and she was saying, you know, on thursday, we can expect to start see some of these subpoenas. and the quote, unquote, usual suspects are going to testify. >> o'dowd is going to be subpoenaed. the question is, is he going to take the fifth ame

[applause] we've got the mayor of west mifflin, chris kelly, in the house. pittsburgh's new mayor is here. and we've got allegeny county executive rich fitzgerald. and then we've got one of my good buddies who is always in my ear about working people, and i love this guy, the international president of the united steelworkers, leo gerard, is here. [applause] and i also brought along our great friend, our former ambassador to ireland and most importantly chairman of the pittsburgh steelers, dan rooney in the house. [applause] and most of all, it's great to be here with men and women of u.s. steel. this company helped build america, and over 100 years later you're still at it. you forged the pipes that transport cleaner burning natural gas. you manufacture the lightweight alloys that our automakers use to build fuel-efficient cars. you're part of one of the great turn-around stories of this economic recoveries, the rebound of the american steel industry. and look, just every time i go to the steel plant, i remember being a steelworker is hard work, but every s

in chris christkrooe chris chri other than bridget kelly, we've saw e-mails from her boss, kevin o'dowd, chris christie's nominee to be the next chief of staff of new jersey. and regena egea. and his chief council, who christie says is one of two people who direct report to him on this issue of the bridge shutdown. also the governor's chief spokesman, also the governor's other spokesman, also a high-level staffer in the governor's office. the governor's director of departmental relations. her name is christina genovese. also subpoenaed today, a low-level staffer named evan ridley, who we know took a call from the mayor of ft. lee during the shutdown, when the mayor was desperately looking for somebody to listen to his complaints about what was going on in his town. that's the governor's office as governor. over at the governor's re-election campaign, the people who have received subpoenas includes his campaign manager, bill steppian, his spokesperson, the campaign staffer who asked the ft. lee mayor for his endorsement, his name is matt mauers. he's since became the executive director o

kelly. it makes it seem rather unlikely she woke up one morning and decided on her own to go ahead and screw the people of ft. lee. the good news for chrisistie is is that if he is going to survive this mess, it is crucial that bridget kelly has to be a loyal soldier. that she can't roll over and start talking out of school about what she knows and the picture that emerges from the "times" article is she's quite loyal. she, "had always been a royal soldier, never a rule breaker. followed the chain of command. she's not a cowboy." steve kornacki told us he has a hard time seeing kelly as a wayward staff member. >> when i knew bridget kelly, she was a steve of staff to a mild mannered assemblyman to bergen county. >> she's come a long way. >> i cannot reconcile the bridget kelly i knew from those days with the bridget kelly of -- >> of time for traffic in ft. lee. >> joining me, david chen, investigative political reporter and former trenton bureau chief for "the new york times," the author of the piece on bridget anne kelly that ran in the "times" today. i want to read this tweet from a conservative reporter. he says "with subpoena on the

i don't know if he's going to be able to do that after this. >> thanks to you, steve, kelly, and chris. >>> meanwhile, the white house today on the defensive after excerpts were released and leaked from former defense secretary bob gates' new book "in duty," his new memoir. gates both criticizes and praises president obama for his relationship with the military, but reserves his sharpest criticism for vice president joe biden and former national security adviser tom donovan. gates calls the national security team the most centralized and controlling in national security since the nixon years. he recalls his thoughts after one meeting with the president about the war in afghanistan, saying "the president doesn't trust his commander, can't stand karzai, doesn't believe in his own strategy, and doesn't consider the war to be his. for him, it's all about getting out." joining me now is p.j. crowley, and colonel jack jacobs. welcome to both of you. p.j., you were there. you've seen a lot of this. you know bob gate, as do i. i've covered him at cia. this, first of all, booked by an academica

investigation tells nbc news that the assembly had originally planned just to subpoena bridget anne kelly, chris christie's deputy chief of staff who ordered the shutdown, and bill stepien who is the governor's campaign manager. he turns up in e-mail calling the mayor of fort lee an idiot. governor christie has already fired both of these people who you see on their screen here. and scuttled bill stepien's plan to become head of the republican party. apparently the plan was to subpoena those two people. now they're getting expert advice from the prosecutor who put blagojevich in prison for corruption. that gentleman is assisting the assembly in its investigation. a source involved tells nbc news that it was the advice of the new special counsel that caused the assembly to lengthen its subpoena list from two, bridget ann kelly and bill stepien, to instead the 17 people and three entities who are getting served tonight. the source saying, that's what happens when you talk to somebody who knows how to do one of these investigations, end quote. so by the end of the hour tonight, by the end of the ni

kelly. she was fired and chris christie really let her have it publicly yesterday. there is already a report out there from a friend of hers, she was thrown under the bus. this wasn't fair. if she decides to roll over. if there is anything untowards about what chris christie might have said and she decides to roll over, how credible could any indictment of hers against chris christie be? >> it depends on what she has to support it. you have to imagine with the closeness of the relationship where she worked with him, there have to be e-mails and text messages. >> i'm going to stop you right there. if i'm the governor and a lawyer himself, the top lawyer in new jersey for six, eight years, you know if you sent an e-mail that's incriminating and you would never spend two hours on television knowing you could have a bill clinton, i did not have sex with that woman, moment. >> you would think so. look at the other politicians that have been in that. you don't always remember. we are talking about 904 pages of documents coming out today. you don't always remember the thin

chris christie's presidential hopes. after sifting through some 2,000 pages of e-mails, nbc news has learned that christie's appointee personally showed up to watch the lane closures on the bridge. kellyhis morning with what this all may mean for chris christie. kelly, good morning. >> reporter: good morning. good to see you, lester. as state lawmakers here investigate, as journalists continue to pore through documents and the public makes its own judgments about what happened, governor christie is preparing for a second term and what is supposed to be a celebration for his upcoming inaugural. and all of this is overshadowing his political standing and his political future is uncertain. the governor's image problem in bold face across trenton's front page. and on the upcoming cover of "the new yorker" magazine. >> christie created this atmosphere where people, i guess, feel okay or think, hey, this is how we do things in the christie administration. you don't mess with us. >> reporter: christie has no public appearances scheduled this weekend and made none friday. >> i have absolutely nothing to hide. >> reporter: letting reaction to his thursday marathon news conference and his repea

lied to. >> the woman that governor chris christie is talking about there, who he stood before the country last week and called a liar, and that woman is bridget anne kellys now at the center of the bridge scandal. thanks to the uncovering her infamous eight-word e-mail reading "time for some traffic problems in ft. lee." more than likely, chris christie's fate is going to have a lot to do with what bridget anne kelly does next. and this headline from today's print edition of "the new york times," "aide fired by christie is loyal team player, not rogue operative" contains good news and bad news for the governor. let me explain. the current story christie would have you believe the traffic jam at the george washington bridge was more or less a rogue operation taken on by appointees and staff members christie knew nothing about. the picture we're getting of bridget "time for some traffic problems" kelly indicates that she was not a rogue operator. it makes it seem rather unlikely she woke up one morning and decided on her own to go ahead and screw the people of ft. lee. the good news for chris christie is that if he was going to survive this mess, it is cr

headquarters of fox news, it's "the kelly file" with megyn kelly. >>> a kelly file investigation with the hoboken mayor, and chriswe tried to speak with repeatedly. >> i just want to get somebody to back up your claims. is there any reason you wouldn't come on the megyn kelly show? mayor zimmer? >> mayor zimmer is accusing chris christie of administration of threatening her, claiming she would with hold funds on a project. she says she has produced handwritten journal notes. but tonight we learned in a deposition just last year, mayor zimmer under oath stated that she does not keep any such records. an attorney in that case asking her while she was under oath, quote, do you write notes on the calendar or a sort of memo pad, follow up on a text or this was said during this meeting. anything that would help you recall what was said during the course of the meeting, to which she replied no, i don't. lewis sayas is an attorney on the case, and from the beginning, lewis, let me speak with you, you were in an adversarial situation, you asked her about note keeping, on meetings. and did she later provide any wiggle room

kelly, good evening. >> reporter: good evening, brian. chris christie fired a top aide, a chief of staff and cut ties with campaign manager, saying they had betrayed him. he said he gathered all of his senior staff around and had been wrongly told nobody was involved. so he apologized for his words, denials he made, even jokes he made about the traffic jam story. his trademark in your face style, tempered today by scandal inside his own circle. >> what they did hurt the people of new jersey and hurt the people of ft. lee, and the person who needs to apologize for that is me. >> reporter: appearing contrite, sometimes mournful. and in his words, embarrassed. >> i am humiliated by the fact that i did not know this and that i was deceived. and that's an awful way to feel. >> reporter: facing more than 20 cameras, dozens of questions in a marathon news conference with his national political future on the line, governor chris christie insisted he never knew about and never okayed what he called a political vendetta. >> let me tell you everybody, i w

bridget anne kelly, who wrote the now most famous of the e-mails to wildstein, "time for some traffic problems in for the lee." it was the public revelation of that e-mail that forced chriselly. a long 24 hours after he read that e-mail for the first time, according to his story. chris christie also got rid of his campaign manager, bill stepien, because he didn't like the tone of stepien's e-mails. >> i was disturbed by the tone and behavior and attitude, callous indifference that was displayed in the e-mails by my former campaign manager, bill stepien. >> stepien was agreeably on the receiving end of the "little serbian" e-mail. david wildstein told stepien that he was worried about a "wall street journal" article about the bridge, so worried that he came to work that day with empty boxes to pack up his office because he feared he might be fired on the spot by chris christie when that article came out that morning. not for anything he did wrong but for getting bad press for the governor. but bill stepien read the article and told wildstein not to worry, "it's fine. the mayor is an idiot, though. win some, lose some." as far as we can tell, "the mayor is an idiot" is jus

>> and kelly and chris and i just wanted to, steve, take a listen to this. this was mark sokolich, audio of a news conference in response to what governor christie said. >> he or she would be welcomed with open arms and view it as an absolute honor, there's no question about that. however, and i'm saying this as respectfully as i can, i'm not trying to sound callous or trying to -- >> that was mayor sokolich we'll get more in a moment. let's talk about chris christie and new jersey politics and how plays on the national stage. he has gotten past this with the performance today. but what about the sort of residual doubts about the rough and tumble politics of new jersey in a republican primary? >> well, i mean, i think that's the important thing to keep in mind as we talk about his performance today. let's be honest, politically if you wanted to survive anywhere after this, there is nothing he could say today other than what he said. if he is i had any knowledge of this or role in the planning, political career is over on the spot. he had to say what he had t

but if these people are as loyal to chris christie as bridget kelly is indicating she is going to be, need somebody like david wildstein who is willing to talk, willing to provide answer. and that might be what they're looking for. >> do you think that wildstein, who you said on that tape i played, thinks two or three steps ahead, has already calculated that he has certain options he better exercise now before others do, or he feels he has nothing to worry about because clearly somebody has something to worry about, whether it's the governor's involvement or not, somebody ordered that bridge closed, which is clearly is a wrong thing to do if not an illegal thing. >> you know, i think everybody has something to worry about here. it's a question about how much are they going to put their own loyalty to governor christie and loyalty to his political future and protecting him above the opportunity potentially to save themselves. and i just look at david wildstein, and he really stands out at this point as a person at this point who seems most likely to look for some kind of a deal. >> ste

joining me now for our daily fix is chris cillizza and live in trenton, new jersey, nbc's kelly o'donne o'donnell. kelly, today we learned there's going to be a special investigative committee solely focused on the bridge with subpoena power. you sat down with the assemlyman who will lead it, john wisniewski, how significant is this announcement and what can we expect? >> i just came from the announcement that they made and raced over here to be able to tell you first, peter, what they've said is they created this super committee which means it is pulling together both members of both parties and they will have this special power but also hire outside counsel to pursue this investigation. as you know, legislative bodies have committees that have certain areas of jurisdiction and basically say these issues have become so significant and you are potentially so far reaching they need to create a separate way to pursue this. they also told us that because of the calendar of how they do business here, things will slow down a little bit. on thursday, the new assembly begins a new session and

kelly. new fallout after new jersey governor chris christie held a two-hour conversation today, first apologizing and then denying any personal knowledge of a revenge scheme in a political situation, that snarled traffic for hours on the george washington bridge, a major east coast artery. and more, eric? >> reporter: hello, megyn, an apology, a firing of a top christie appointee, taking effect. many wonder what comes next. governor christie went to ft. lee, new jersey, to personally apologize to the mayor there, and all of the plan was apparently a revenge because he didn't endorse christie for re-election. the mayor says he accepts the apology and christie's denials he was not involved. >> i take him for his word which was he had nothing to do with it. i said this once, i said it 100 times. we in ft. lee are not rooting for facts to you know, come about and surface that would suggest in some shape or form that he was involved in it. we take him for his word. >> today, christie fired his department chief of staff, the woman you see on the right there, bridget anne kelly, who apparently ordered t

great reporting, chris, thank you for weighing in and kelly o'donnell, of course.e in washington. the national zoo's baby panda ready for her close-up. this is baobao, born on august 23rd, making her official public debu on january 18th. >>> the supreme court effectively gutted the 1965 voting rights acts in june last year when the court struck down a key provision opening the door for states and localities too undo a half century of voting rights gains. >> in the 11 states all confederacy and even in some of the states outside of the south there have been a systemic deliberate attempt to take us back to another period. we must not forget our past and must not forget our history. if we forget it, we will repeat it. the vote is precious, it is sacred. >> cherilyn i fell joins me to talk about the voting rights restrictions in local contests. it's great to have you. >> thank you. >> we heard about texas and north carolina and some of the state restrictions but as you and i have been discussing off camera, there is a local impact of some of these voting rights cases a

kelly, "stuck in a jam." by the way, here is why the latest developments in this scandal have obvious political implications for christie's future. let's start with chrishristie the governor. it's his deputy chief of staff bridget kelly who writes the new famous e-mail "time for some traffic problems in ft. lee." she sends it to david wildstein, christie's appointee at the port authority who replies, "got it." in october, wildstein writes to christie campaign manager bill stepien that ft. lee's mayor is angry. stepien replies the mayor is an idiot. win some, lose some. eventually kelly and wildstein collaborate with michael drewniak in a public statement saying the lane closures were part of a traffic study. well, in november, wildstein's superior at the port authority, bill baroni also says the closures were part of a traffic study. at this point, baroni, kelly, and wildstein have lost their jobs. stepien has lost his position with the republican governors association and was asked to drop his candidacy for state republican party chair. the big question of course is what happens now to chris christie. up next, much more on the bridge scandal and the s

chris christie's fourth state of the state address, but his first surrounded in scandal. he talked about the growing bridge scandal, issuing another public apology, and nbc's kelly o'donnellas there. >> reporter: on his way to the assembly chamber, governor chris christie prepared himself for another public display of regret. [ applause ] while tradition welcomes the governor with applause, controversy is where christie began. >> mistakes were clearly made. we let down the people we're entrusted to serve. i know our citizens deserve better, much better. >> reporter: the unfolding scandal has brought ridicule and withering criticism. christie faced the state lawmakers who have launched investigations. >> without a doubt, we will cooperate with all appropriate inquiries to insure that this breach of trust does not happen again. let me tell you, everybody, i was blindsided yesterday morning. >> reporter: governor christie denied any prior knowledge of an intentional plan to snarl bridge traffic last september, but how close to christie were the people who did know? an examination of hundreds of pages of documents shows at least six people in governor christie's inner circle

. >> 20 subpoenas issued to keep members of new jersey governor chris christie under bridge gate. he fired bridget kelly among those served. christie himself is not on the list. the lawmaker leading the investigation says there's no evidence right now linking to the the governor to that scandal. he is accused of closing lanes on the george washington bridge causing major traffic jams for political pay back. >> nadia solomon is accused of not supporting the 30,000 dollars she earned for making appearances last year while collecting welfare. if convicted the mother of 14 could get up to 6 years behind bars. >> it has been more than 100 days since the launch of obamacare. there is still some major issues. web site security is worse than before and the back end is nowhere near complete. elizabeth prann is live for us in washington with more on the security. >> security experts steffing th -- testifying this week said healthcare g healthcare.gov has a number of weaknesses still. they warn a breech could have catastrophic consequences seeing as it is not getting any better. >> healthcare.gov is not secure tod

. >> reporter: it's the end of the road for new jersey governor chris christie's deputy chief of staff bridget anne kelly fired after emails tied her to a major four-day traffic jam on the nation's busiest bridge reportedly as payback against a democratic mayor who refused to endorse christie. >> i terminated her employment because she lied to me. >> reporter: the governor seen as a likely candidate for the 2016 republican presidential nomination says the woman and two employees concocted the scheme behind his back. >> i am embarrassed and humiliated by their conduct. >> reporter: critics call him a vindictive bully whose city is near the george washington bridge. he says the traffic tie-ups made kids late for school and slowed down first responders. >> to learn that people were put in harm's way because of something apparently that i didn't do, uhm, i cannot begin to tell you how troubling that is to me. >> reporter: christie plans to travel to fort lee later today to apologize to the mayor and the residents. ko im, cbs news, trenton, new jersey. >>> u.s. jobless claims have fallen to a five-week low. t

so there is a lot of talk out there will bridget kelly turn on chris christie and spill all these goodsg word right now that that is not the case. >> how many times did he call her a liar? that is remarkable. >> the one that is a lot more interesting at this moment at least is david wildstein at that hearing openly asking for immunity that is somebody, and in fact the fact that his documents being released was the first clue that if there is no back channel communication going on there between him and the christie administration. and you know that because he blindsided them with his documents last week. they announced bill stepien tuesday night. on wednesday morning wildstein's documents came out that put stepien in the middle of all of this. if they had had any inkling that that was coming, that the governor's office had any inkling that was coming, they would have never announced this. different from kelly. >> he may not be on the governor's team? >> that tells me if you're looking at britain kelly and david wildstein, one seems a lot more interested in immunity and saying something t

kelly, working in the shadow of chris christie, in his office, in his inner circle would initiate an tion that would cause this traffic debacle. >> cal, you know there are a lot of questions remain about bridget kelly's role in all of this. "the new york times" reports that for years she was, quote, mid level staff member to a low profile legislator. but in 2009, ms. kelly worked long hours for the christie effort in bergen county. afterwards, many political operatives voiced surprise when mr. christie promoted ms. kelly. can you tell us what you know about bridget kelly? >> i think part of that rise and why it was so stunning was all due to bill stepien. he was the whiz kid who ran the campaign successfully, impressing a lot of people not just in new jersey, but nationwide. in that first campaign when she ran that phone bank in bergen county, a very democratic community, very democratic place. she did very well, you know, bergen county came out almost half and half between corzine and governor christie. you know, that was enough for bill stepien i think to push her up the ranks as so

. >> chris: fired bridge jet anne kelly, his deputy chief of staff, on the right. she sent texts and e-mails about the closings. he said, she lied to him. also severed relations with his former campaign manager for what he called callous indifference in some of the e-mails they sent. >> as governor christie described it today, he got up yesterday morning, had his trainer over, somewhere before 9:00, 8:50 a.m., somebody notified him to take a look at the county record, the newspapers. >> he said this is the first time he heard about that yesterday morning. >> that's when the read the e-mails. >> for the very first time, he said. he again reiterated during the news conference he knew nothing about this scheme, nothing about what happened, nothing about any of this planning and that's when he first found out about it. he also said he did not play any part in it. >> i had no knowledge or involvement in this issue, in its planning or execution. and i am stunned by the abject stupidity that was shown here, regardless of what the facts ultimately uncover. >> and as for th

to fort lee will come after a nearly two-hour news conference today where chris christie announced the firing of a. bridget kellya statement from the u.s. attorney's office in newark it was reviewing the later, we will determine whether the law was implicated. david wildstein pled the fifth refusing to answer state lawmakers for investigating this very issue. we need to be clear, no evidence has suggested that chris christie knew about or ordered the lane closings in question. now, throughout the nearly two-hour-long news conference the governor emphasized his repeated attempts in the past to minimize this scandal were based on dec

there's nothing -- if there's no trail that you get to follow that gets you any closer to chris christie in the bridget kelly e-mails and all that stuff, then this goes away. it's a very big if. >> welt, i think sdsh and i go back to what steve said a second ago, it's going to get worse before it gets better. state and federal investigations don't go away overnight. and the question is, how much brand damage is inflicted upon you during this time period. and i think that certainly remains to be seen. if he's not healthy at home, if he's under investigation, he can't launch a presidential campaign. so look, in the end, we may find ourselves many, many months from here with this solved. the amount of damage that might be done between now and then which, again, i think this is a hit to the very central narrative of who chris christie wants you to believe he is. and quite frankly, it underscores the negative that republican candidates and democratic candidates alike in 2006 will say that he's a bully. he governs the state of nnl nnl as a bully. anytime you've got a scandal that hurts your centralaire tiff and pr

chris christie played a role. the official overseeing wants to question staff fords like bridget anne kelly, who was fired. while it is still early, he acknowledged impeachment for governor chris christie is possible. >> others were reflecting on whether they were victims of retribution. the mayor of jersey city was promised increased access to state commissioners. those meetings were canceled within an hour. the mayor of ho broken said her state was considered knneutral. >> in the context we are in right now, you can look back and say it was retribution. all mayors are reflecting right now and thinking about it. i really hope that that's not the case. >> while few republicans with national profiles rush to his defense when the scandal first boiled over last week, christie received praise on the sunday shows with a caveat. >> he stood there for 111 minutes in an open dialogue with the press. only if barack obama and hillary clinton would give us 111 seconds of that would we find out some things we want to find out some things about obamacare, benghazi, the irs. >> i thought he did an excellent job by the ve

last august bridget anne kelly, chris christie's department chief of staff, sent an e-mail to david wildsteinchristie appointee, in charge of the bridge. she wrote, "time for some traffic problems in fort lee." wildstein responded, "got it." about a month later, drivers going through fort lee suddenly found the four lanes dwindled to just one. over four days the ensuing gridlock led children to be late for the first week of school and hindered emergency response vehicles. mark sokolich mayor of fort lee, says it was all in retribution for his refusal to endorse christie's re-election bid. >> to learn people were put in harm's way because of something i didn't do i cannot begin to tell you how troubling that is to me. >> in december christie denied his administration was involved. >> i've made it very clear to everybody on my senior staff that if anyone had any knowledge about this they needed to come forward to me and tell me about it, and they've all ensured me they don't. >> but on wednesday, christie who was not directly implicated in the correspondence said he had been misled saying "this

kelly. and paul, you've written a head line, when it comes to cover-ups, chris christie has no credibility.hat is interesting when you juxtapose that against senator greenwald who was just on. he's a democrat here, but he's giving chris christie the benefit of the doubt. you point out the spin he tried to sell in that marathon news conference is likely to become unspun once the subpoenas go out." >> yes, i think simply greenwald was giving him enough rope to hang himself there. i think he's trying to set a high standard and say, oh, i'm sure everything he said is true. then when some of it turns out to be false, the democrats can say gotcha. but the real problem with this, you know how expressive chris christie is in his press conferences, well, when he was denying this to the media in the state house on december 2nd, he convinced us all. we're going joking, oh, i moved the cones myself. and making similar statements. and i, for one, thought that he thought this was nothing. but in fact, it now turns out that his people as early as when the jam was still on, some of his people were in conta

chris christie's office. the reply to that order, "got it" he works for the agency that runs the george washington bridge. but bridget kelly the one who said it's time for traffic problems and she worked for chris christie as deputy chief of staff. the chief of staff throughout the bridge crisis from the time of that august e-mail and continuing today is a man named kevin o'dowd. we should make it clear that mr. o'dowd has in no way been accused in this scandal. beyond his current role as reach of staff, though, chris christie nominated him to become the next attorney general of the state of new jersey. to become new jersey's top law enforcement official. now, of course, with governor christie saying he's been blind sided about the but revelations, reports want to know now if anything about the plan for kevin o'dowd's next job might be changing. >> oh, absolutely not. kevin's confirmation hearing will go forward on tuesday, and i expect, you know, vigorously questioned like any candidate for attorney general should be, and i expect that he'll get swift and certain confirmation because he deserves it. >> no problem, governo

by 9:00 this morning bridget kelly was terminated. >> governor chris christie today in new jersey sayingblind-sided by this scandal involving traffic on the george washington bridge. you heard him mention bridget anne kelly. that was his deputy chief of staff involved in political payback against the democratic mayor of ft. lee, new jersey. snarling traffic on the george washington bridge saying it's time for some traffic because he did not endorse rivetee's re-election bid last night, and then the number two appointee to the port authority david wildstein, involved in some of the e-mails, took the fifth when he was summoned to the new jersey state assembly. >> on the advice of counsel i assert my right to remain silent. >> and that also refers to a meeting with the governor of the same date? >> mr. chairman, on the advice of counsel i assert my right to remain silent. >> and it continued like that for a while. so what about all of this? let's bring in our panel, syndicated columnist george will, charles lane, opinion writed for the "washington post" and syndicated columnist charles krau

. >>> the most important thing we knew before today about the chris christie scandal was sent from bridgette ann kelly to a christie appointee saying, for some reason, quote, it's time for traffic problems in ft. lee. they control the george washington bridge, the busiest bridge in the world responded to that apparent order by saying, got it. that was the most important thing we knew before today. for cover, before today, we have mr. wildstein and somebody else

chris christie's inner circle. first, names that people are going to be familiar with. bridget anne kelly, the governor's deputy chief of staff. and bill stepien, who is a top political aide. and there are other people who are -- fit that description. kevin o'dowd. he was the governor's chief of staff. he was just appointed to -- or named to be the next attorney general. then there's charlie mckenna, the governor's counsel. and david samson, who is the chairman of the port authority of new york and new jersey, but more importantly in this case, in addition to that, is very, very close confidant of chris christie and has been for a long time. >> these subpoenas, this is legislative. how much of this is politics? these people can just plead the fifth. >> that's right. but they can collect a lot of documents, so that's significant. this story only exists because of some e-mails that were disclosed. so there are likely more e-mails that are relevant to this controversy. but the point about the legislative committee is that they don't have the power to give immunity. to david wildstein, who to