the pulaski skyway is a state road. "the times" reports after legal wrangling and pressure from the christie camp, it moved forward and the skyway closed for renovations in april. add two more investigations to the mix. both the manhattan d.a.'s office and s.e.c. are looking into whether the christie administration or port authority violated securities law in the course of making this deal. "dozens and dozens of lawyers from both sides of the river approved the financing plan and approved it. i relied upon the advice of lawyers on both sides of the river to come to that conclusion. i'm confident if the s.e.c. reviews it, they'll come to the same conclusion." joining me, matt flegenheimer from "the new york times," he's been reporting on this story. okay. first of all, why securities law? why the s.e.c.? so you've got this financing plan to renovate the skyway. it's not immediately clear the skyway is in the purview of the port authority. the port authority foots the bill, anyway. the lawmakers are concerned this doesn't

he eyes that pool of money and says i want to get that money to fix the pulaski skyway. the only other way to do it is to raise the gas tax. i'm not going to be the republican governor that raises the gas tax. this has to do with how did they get the money from the port authority to pay for this project. what they did is they classified the skyway as an approach to the lincoln tunnel. the pulaski sky way is closer to lower manhattan. they don't connect. >> but that's important. they don't physically connect. >> right. this is where it builds to the legal thing. the district on the new york side has something called the martin act which is a 50-year-old statute that's on the books in new york that gives huge, tremendous wide latitude to prosecutors to go after securities fraud. what they are looking at here is that this decision to redirect that money, to have the port authority classify the pulaski skyway as an approach to the holland tunnel, it can basically constitute fraud. this is something that was in the bond documents that the port authority put out. the martin ac

the fact that the pulaski skyway -- people have talked about controversial parts of the record but nown issue. >> i have driven down it many times, i'm glad they are repairing it. >> infrastructure -- right, yes, but in terms of the issues that plague this administration or things they are facing, how much of a big deal do you think the latest thing that the new york times reported on is for the governor? >> some some ways it feels like less of a big political issue but potentially a greater legal issue. we have as these bond prospect uses with a misstatement on them and martin act that allows you to go after people for a misdemeanor. for a felony it's harder. you have two more prosecutors on top of you now, new york city da and -- >> who is ten ashs. >> this reminds me -- i used to cover albany. at one time we had seven different investigations into a governor up there. it became about scandal and dysfunction. can he get out all of that just to govern, forget the rank of president stuff. >> esquire lays out potential christie charges, obstruction of justice, securities fraud and consp

a port authority official involved in approving bonds or the expenditure of the money for the pulaski skyway with project i would be worried now. >> let me ask you about the larger picture. i follow politics and christie. when he made the decision to cancel that rail tunnel to new york, the third tunnel, he got a lot of heat. we found out under this scenario he was taking the money for that tunnel construction and using it for something that had nothing to do with the port authority. had to do with the pulaski highway in new jersey. he did it so he didn't have to raise taxes so he could look like a low taxer but do big stuff. in other words he was moving stuff around. >> he was basically robbing peter to pay paul. it's not free money. when you raid the port authority it comes out of stuff the port authority should be doing. it can result in things people feel in the pocket book in new york and new jersey. >> why are we just finding out -- $1.8 billion is a lot of money by any standards. why wasn't this nailed when the bond money went to build a better highway in new jersey? >> in fairness, t

this time it's the pulaski skyway, that connects newark and jersey city. the d.a. and fcc are investigating violations of securities law related to a 2011 deal in which christie successfully lobbied to use port authority money to rebuild the skyway. investors were told it was for lincoln tunnel improvements but the pulaski skyway is miles away from the tunnel. >>> moving on to a few other developments. in the republican side of 2016, former governor jeb bush will headline a major fund-raiser in september for at least four republican senate nominees. guess what, he's not going to them, they're come to him. cory gardner, joni ernst, monica webbe and tom cotton will fly to tampa. the fund-raising may also benefit the winner of the august 26 republican primary in alaska. >>> this week was not so bright when it comes to jeb bush's iowa prospects. he was tied with christie for the highest negative rating of any republican tested in a new quinnipiac poll. his positive rating was even lower than christie's and he fared the worst against hillary clinton, trailing her by dou

there are questions about how christie's administration paid for a billion dollar repair for the pulaski skywayridge. feds are looking into whether the funds for that bridge broke the law. christie's administration is being investigated currently for lane closures at the george washington bridge. >>> and from our south jersey bureau, top honors for postal workers who have driven more than a million miles without an accident. four letter carriers will be honored today at the stratford post office at bell mmar, camde county. >>> now your nbc 10 first alert weather with meteorologist bill henley.ç >> clouds are moving in this morning and the temperatures will be heading into the upper 80s in some spots this afternoon. and the temperatures that are cooling this morning actually running a little bit warmer. it's a bit steamy outside this morning. that steamyness will stay with us through the day. a high humidity day. dry to start with but low clouds are overhead. showers and thunderstorms are in store for us as we head into the afternoon hours. right now moving out the door, 71 degrees in allentown

and just so we're clear here, the lincoln tunnel, pulaski skyway in the middle, they're saying it's an tunnel up there in the corner of your screen. it is not in any way, shape or form, i think from a strict, you know, intuitive intense, a connection to the lincoln. >> this is not something that commuters would ever do going from the pulaski to the lincoln tunnel. >> that was the legal reasoning upon which they said they could do this. there were bonds issued to do this? >> they referred to the capital projects as lincoln tunnel access infrastructure -- >> wait a second, the bonds they sold to actual people are bonds labeled lincoln tunnel capital project. can we put that map back up there? they sold bonds to people and said, hey, do you want to get in on the -- lend the state, the port authority money to do lincoln tunnel projects? you can't lie on your bond issue. >> that's right. the accuracy of that characterization is at the heart of this, whether or not you can plausibly say that was not a misrepresentati misrepresentatio misrepresentation. >> this is what's fascinating to me. y

there are questions about how his administration paid for a billion-dollar repair of the pulaski skyway bridge that connects newark and jersey city. the investigation reportedly deals with whether the funding was misrepresented in bond documents by the port authority of new york and new jersey, and if possible, misrepresentations amount to securities law violations. all sides declined to comment tonight. christie's administration is already embroiled in a criminal probe over the lane closures at the george washington bridge. >>> more problems tonight for neighbors in the southwest philadelphia community. a water main break over the weekend is still causing issues. and some tell us they now have no gas service either. nbc 10 in the 1700 block of south udal street tonight. on saturday, a 12 inch main broke sending thousands of gallons of water into the street. tonight, people who live here tell us some of that water got into their gas lines, too. we reached out to pgw. they say 700 homes have no gas service at this time. and about 45 of those homes have damage to their gas lines. samuel m

reports there are questions about how the administration paid for a billion dollar repair of the pulaski skywaybridge connecting newark and jersey city. the report says the feds are looking at whether the funding broke the law by misrepresenting bond documents from the port authority of new york and new jersey. all sides have declined comment. christie's administration is being investigated for lane closures at the george washington bridge. >>> five minutes after 5:00 now. from our delaware bureau, struggling casinos find out if they'll get a financial boost from delaware lawmakers. state lawmakers will vote on a relief package today. the senate was supposed to take a vote last night but they had to iron out last-minute issues. the casino is hoping that the state will slash the amount of revenue they take from the casinos every year, staying that out-of-state competition is herring them. the gaming houses say they will have trouble staying open if they do not reduce the revenue they take. >>> now first alert weather with meteorologist bill henley. >> much more humidity, low during the day yeste

scandal the sec is looking into how christie's office paid the billion dollar bill to repair the pulaski skyway richmond of jersey to the work and anonymous source of the associated press the investigation centers on $1.8 billion of bonds issued through the port authority of new york and new jersey which provided money for those repairs and the possibility that those bonds were misrepresented. they said this is the story that's one of the developing throughout the morning to bring in more affirmation >>: and only of crown we talk to the step grandfather of it to year-old boy who was mauled and killed by a family of tools and cover for years about the grandfather was convicted of two crimes and is going to be sentenced in two weeks. kron4's shared moments of the interview. >>: it's a big misconception people have out there is that i was totally responsible for a check of the time and i just left. i was a thing about their welfare. >>: i would never have left if i knew they would do that and it would endanger them somehow >>: steve and high-is leading to a judge in the community for years after h

commission are investigating whether christie's administration misrepresented a project to repair the pulaski skyway the iconic bridge in the opening credits of the sopranos. investigators are focused on whether christie's staffers won funding by labeling the project as something it was not. >> developing right now sunni militants launched a dawn raid on a iraqi oil refinery. they have been pushed back by security forces. meanwhile the pentagon confirms that about half the 300 american advisors and special op forces set to go to iraq are now in baghdad. >>> meantime secretary of state john kerry met with kurdish leaders and urged them to join a unified government. he's warning that with the current course it will be violent and deadly for all sides. indeed a thousand people have been killed in iraq this month. but there does not seem to be an appetite for a strong american response. a new abc news washington post poll found two-thirds of americans are opposed to sending ground troops to help fight the extremists. >> 5:15 now. new this morning uruguay's star soccer player has been charged with biting

. $1.8 billion in funding most of it to repair the pulaski skyway.ompany reports that the money was allegedly misrepresented. for its part, the port authority said the project was negotiated with lawyers on all sides. >>> in a chilling twist in the case against an atlanta father whose son died sitting in a sweltering car. 33-year-old justin harris said he forgot his 22-month-old son doorp who was inside but sources now till cnn affiliate wsb that police believe there is evidence harris knew the boy was in the car for the four hours. this is a heartbreaking case. no word on what the evidence is. but witnesses aren't sold after seeing harris frantically calling police. >> you could feel his sorrow and his hurt, because of the situation. i thought it was insanity for him to be charged with murder. >> now, harris has not pleaded not guilty to felony murder and child cruelty. the boy's funeral is on saturday. happens more than people realize. >> oh, that's so sad. oh. >>> in a stunning twist, kfc said it found no evidence one of its employees asked the fa

the pulaski skyway, they noted, is owned and operated by the state, putting it outside the agency's purviewbut eventually the authority justified the repair pas by casting the bridge as an access road to the lincoln tunnel though they do not -- they are not directly connected. what is the manhattan district attorney looking at? >> they are looking at something called the martin act which is a 1921 law in new york state that basically gives prosecutors almost unlimited discretion when it comes to securities or bond violations. >> break the martin act down for me. i understand it allows felons for intentionally deceiving bond holders. they don't need to prove intent to defraud and it's bye-bye u 'o bring charges against wall street firms. how does this work? >> you're right. it includes criminal are felonies in new york. if you're on the wrong side you can spend one to four at clubs with sing-sing, places like that. its also includes civil penalties. you don't have to show as a prosecutor that you are had the intent to harm, defraud or that there were damages as a result of that. this is what

if you know where the pulaski skyway is and the lincoln tunnel is, they're nowhere near each other. it would make more sense to link it to the holland tunnel. but there's a very arcane reason they couldn't say this money was going to improve access to the holland tunnel. they have to say the lincoln tunnel. it actually makes no sense. >> the new york state law gives prosecutors the ability to go after the port authority for this. and then the question becomes is the port authority doing this at the behest of somebody or more than one person in the administration, and that's the exposure right here potential liis for the christie administration. >> and according to the new york times report, people in the administration are going back and fort with the port authority over a long period of time over this, and the port authority had $3 billion or so of their money that was going to go into this tunnel. that was going to be another $3 billion of federal money going into the tunnel and the new jersey share would have been three, christie say it is would have been much larger because he w

this time the focus is the pulaski skyway bridge and how the state got money to fix it. >>> and propertyners in one camden conte dmun will have to pay $300 more in taxes because of a school district error. i love the taste. always smooth, never bitter. my cup of coffee is always awesome when i go to dunkin'. man: i see the steam rising off the cup, 'cause you know it's a fresh pot. man: one cup a day for sure. two if need be. and it's usually "need be." dunkin' -- your place for coffee. >>> 6:15. here's a live look at what's here and what's coming our way. on the left-hand side of the screen, you can see we're off to a cloudy, muggy start. on the right hand that's the radar. all the green, that's rain. it's on its way to the delaware valley. >>> well, we told you about this woman yesterday. we're hearing from her. the whistle-blower from the phoenix v.a. system again that we told you about yesterday. her name is pauline dewinter. the v.a. employee says a manager forced her to keep a secret waiting list of more than 1,000 veterans. she says it's still happening and her notes about seven p

commission are investigating whether his administration misrepresented a project to repair the pulaski skywayconic bridge from the opening credits of the sopranos. investigators are focused on whether christie staffers won funding by labeling the project as something it was not. >> new here on "action news," the new search area for the missing malaysia airlines flight 370 is scheduled to be unveiled today. more than three months after that jetliner disappeared searchers have found no trace of the boeing 777 or the 239 people aboard it. the flight disappeared back on march eighth. >>> after searching a month and in a 330 square mile of the southern indian ocean australian officials say they're confident it's not there. >> google expected to unveil new gadgets today and the world cup could end up being the biggest social media event ever. abc's matt gutmann has this morning's tech bites. a day android fans have been waiting for. google will kick offer its io developers conference. wearable gadgets expected to take center stage as well as integrated technology for the home and car. the faa shot

at the pulaski skyway a major commuter crossing. now the f cs.e.c.ng into it. >>> "the washington post" says parents should not be not surprised if the next prescription is for read ago loud. it urges doctors to tell the parents how critical reading loud is so important for their children. >>> and an appeals court overturned the law yesterday after she married a christian man. he happens to hold u.s. citizenship. the case drew international attention. she spent seven months in prison. >>> in salt lake city the desr desreret news. and ben tracy reports the woman dismissed calls the actions exceptionally painful. >> i am still very much in a state of shock. >> reporter: her name is kate kelly, and she considered herself a faithful mormon but she's now been kicked out of church of jesus christ latter day saints. >> i don't think this is inevitable. this is a choice they made. >> reporter: last year she formed a group called ordained women. bishop mark harris sent kelly an e-mail informing her of her ex communication and said it was, quote, for conduct c

christie cancels the tunnel and it's basically how he got that money to pay for the thing called the pulaski skywayt looks like serious potentially serious hot water here. what is the legal issue here? >> they call -- to justify the port authority to take the money, lawyers warned and warned don't do this. at some point they were under so much pressure because the governor was calling press conferences, i'm going to do this and people were pressuring the port authority, we have to get this done. at some point the port authority switches and says remember now we have to legally justify this. what they did was say this is a lincoln tunnel project. the statute is very clear on what you can spend lincoln tunnel money on, it's the helix and roads under it. you cannot call the skyway six miles away can't call it a lincoln tunnel project. this is misrepresentation to bond holders, to potential bond buyers. >> and one thing i've heard this week, what you just mentioned there, christie was out there publicly saying, hey this is what we're doing. christie defenders are saying, you know if it was so illegal,

to make these critical investments in infrastructure, for example, the pulaski skyway, 3 1/2 miles longtruction, spanning two rivers, archaic looking and industrial era looking and falling down almost. so, it had to be renovated. but because it doesn't tie in directly to either one of the tunnels into new york, you would think it would have to be done with state taxpayer money. gas tax. governor doesn't want to raise the gas tax, so he has to find the money somewhere else. >> there's this big pool of money sitting right there, you get your hands on the money, you don't raise taxes and you can be the conservative governor and take care of the infrastructure. >> it's basically free money. and people pay tolls and people don't connect toll hikes with tax hikes. >> but it apparently comes with an investigation from the s.e.c. we played the clip. here he is. he's in building a couple floors above us right now with jimmy fallon and there's the reference in the dance to the bridge. >> the bridge. >> the bridge is closing. i mean, you've watched -- you've watched him sort of on the rise. you've

examines christie's role in pressuring the port authority officials to pay for repairs to the pulaski skywayor money intended for the rail tunnel. port authority said the skyway was owned by the state of new jersey and the repairs should not be paid for by the port authority. however, christie allegedly continued to push for the funds and public announcing the plan before any decisions were made. the port authority eventually okayed the repairs saying the skyway was an access road to the lincoln tunnel and repairs labeled lincoln tunnel infrastructure improvements even though the bridge is not linked to the tunnel. if any wrongdoing could face felony charges for deceiving bond holds and if any security laws have been broken. >> this is the top of "the new york times." i'm trying to figure out if where that irs story -- so on they put chris christie there. hold on a second. because now -- actually on the front page, actually, there was an investigation launched yesterday about the irs, an internal investigation. i'm sure the internal revenue service -- hold on, hold on! internal revenue servi