mr. stepien's lawyer, in which they are again declining to turn over any of their documents that be subpoenaed by the legislative committee. and the language is interesting here. this is the letter from stepien's lawyer. the very real possibility the act of producing these documents to link the chain of evidence that could be used to ensnare him in a criminal prosecution is more than a compelling reason to withdraw that subpoena and force him to become a witness against himself. clearly his lawyer there is saying there is a chain of evidence that would ensnare him in the words of his own lawyer's letter there in this criminal investigation is revealing as well. now, that doesn't go to the governor's state of knowledge, what he knew or didn't know, which is what the wildstein letter is. you put these two developments together and you have some real significant developments in this case. >> yeah, again, we want to confirm we have not independently confirmed any of this evidence. this is a "new york times" report. wildstein is looking for a deal. stepien is looking ahead towards a trial. you look

mr. stepien who some believe must have been playing a leadership role. what do you think happened? >> i don't know what happened but i trust the governor's word. when he says he doesn't know, this is a former u.s. attorney who indicted over 100 politicians, the last guy who is going to lie to the cameras, in my opinion, is governor chris christie. >> is this the kind of thing that happens in this state? i don't mean to be prejudice. i live in philadelphia so i'm sorry i have some bias. is this the kind of thing that will happen in your state, that somebody closes off lanes because somebody didn't endorse somebody? >> i've never heard anything like that but i hope not. this governor had to be very tough to do the historic reforms that, in my judgment, were not going to happen. he has to be tough. for political purposes, assume that happened. >> do you agree with other supporters of chris christie, that if there's any evidence that comes out -- i know you don't think there is. but if any evidence comes out, that he ordered this or even was aware of it, his political career is done? >

mr. stepien people of interest that we will pursue and was would be happy to have them come before the committeeenas will work their way up the pyramid, starting with the lower ranking people, moving towards the center of power? >> lawrence, i think that's exactly right. again, i think we're going to take our advice from our council, but i think where we want to go is based on the documents we've received already, the people that have been identified and use that as a kind of jigsaw puzzle to start to identify and clarify this picture. with the redactions, that picture right now is unclear. we've asked for complete clean copies of those documents which may obviously give us a chris call clear picture. i think as that starts to come in, it will identify really a road map again to where this abuse of power began, how deep it goes and whether or not it goes all the way up directly to the governor itself. our position is we will follow the evidence wherever it goes. and however high that goes. i think making sure that you do not overreach too soon is very important in making sure that the investigat

mr. stepien in a very methodical and strategic approach and see -- we all know there was an abuse of power. but what was the root of the abuse of power and how deep did it go. >> are you going to subpoena them all this week? >> we are interviewing outside counsel right now. yes not -- the state of new jersey is 120 legislators on a very small budget for our legislative staffs. so we are interviewing outside counsel right now. we hope to make an announcement tomorrow. we believe, and as a lawyer i would say there needs to be a very methodical and systematic approach there will be further subpoenas there is going to be further hearings. but we're going to work directly with outside counsel to see what that procedure should be, what order it should take to be done in a fair way, a fair process. >> let's go to alex wagner, my colleague. it seems to me all great dramas involve personalities. faces we begin to recognize and know well. certainly bridget kelly is now one. fingered by the governor directly, called a liar four different ways in one big press conference, she is the bad one. she is th

mr. stepien, christie's campaign manager in administering political payback.as her motivation? right now bridget kelly may be the only person who knows the answer. joining me now is the daily beast's michelle cotto. thanks for coming on the show tonight. >> thanks, reverend. >> michelle, what do you make of the reporting that bridget kelly was not a rogue operator? >> well, look. when you are a trusted staffer in a situation like this, part of your job is to protect the principal and even if there is no proof or any indication that christie himself was involved in this particular episode, there is the question of the kind of climate that he created in his office that led her and stepien to think that this was an appropriate course of action. and he has really not addressed those questions that well. i mean, the governor has kind of ducked and weaved about how he needs to do a little bit of soul-searching. but i think that's going to come back again. because i think if she is following the chain of command, i think spep ytepien is going t next person who we'll

mr. stepien, of course, bridget anne kelly, who is going to be quite names now. here is christie announcing his top deputy bridget kelly lied to him about her involvement in this matter and would have to go. she is the chief deputy the -- deputy chief of staff. that's her title. and she wrote "the time for traffic problems in ft. lee has arrived" in her e-mail. here she is. >> there is no justification for ever lying to a governor or a person in authority in this government. and as a result, i've terminated bridget's employment immediately this morning. >> well, he never talked to her and didn't tell her to her face he was doing it. he didn't have any conversation apparently subsequent to this news story. then comes the heartbreak and betrayal. here he talks about that. >> i am heartbroken that someone who i permitted to be in that circle of trust for the last five years betrayed my trust. >> well, finally christie said he was completely astonished at what his staff and appointees had been doing. >> let me tell you, everybody, i was blindsided yesterday morning.

mr. stepien last night. there is no doubt that bill has been one of my closest advisers over the last five years. for that, i am sad today to have to take this action. i also know that i have a job to do. it is a 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 is appropriate to do it. but i don't want any of you to confuse what i am 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 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? let me tell you, everybody. i was blindsided yesterday morning. i was done with my workout yesterday morning. i got a call from m

mr. christie knew the closures were done for political retribution, but it came as a slew of material is due on monday. the lawyer for christie's former campaign manager and top political aide bill stepien, today asked the committee to withdraw his client's subpoena saying that it violates his right. meanwhile, public hearings are expe trenton on all of this in the next few weeks. bret. >> and eric, just to be clear, this letter from his lawyer says evidence exists that the governor knew. it cozzant say, number one, what the evidence is, or number two, if wildstein has the evidence. >> that's correct. we don't know if it's potential e-mails, recorded phone conversations or what the evidence is. this could likely start coming out when the hearings start in a couple weeks. >> more on this with the panel. >>> now to another story, the biggest objects to the keystone xl pipeline were already environmental. late this afternoon, the state department released its report which should pet many of those fears to rest. final approval is still a ways off, but supporters do have a case for optimism now. >>> more than two years after the obama administration put the keystone xl pipeline on hold, the

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 stepieniz 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 sort of a protege of his. and that's why she landed where she did. >> now, assemblyman, today on msnbc, the former governor of pennsylvania, governor ed rendell said he doubts kelly acted on her own. watch this. >> i was a very hands-on governor like governor christie. my deputy chief of staff, whose desk was 25 feet from mine, would never have done something like this without my clearance, without asking me for prior approval. in a month of sundays, would never have contemplated doing something like this. i can't imagine anybody worked for a strong governor like chris ch