so when assemblyman wisniewski and i talked about this, he said, i have subpoena power.se it. tweel see what the legislative brings. i have been trying to coordinate our schedules, our witness subpoenas and i talked to leadership about that today, leadership in both houses and i look forward to continuing working with him to really be an asset to each other. >> in terms of coordinating subpoenas, does that mean we should determine a different list from your committee and his? >> no, i think we have many of the same people are involved, but perhaps dividing up how we will use these subpoenas, that sort of thing. >> lorretta ween berg, thank you for your time tonight. please stay in touch about this. >> thanks, rachel. >> apparently even when an administration is knee deep in scandal, there is always still time for name calling. new york magazine's frank rich joins us straight ahead. join us. copd includes emphysema and chronic bronchitis. . . >>. >> so you won't taste sillk this and dam on the ohio river, it's apparently great fishing in the melville pool, there is a lot

we certainly, assemblyman wisniewski has done a great job of gathering as much information as he can,o many of those e-mails are incomplete, they're redacted. there's a lot of information we don't know. but one thing is for sure. i know chris christie, i know his administration, i've dealt with him for four years. he runs a very tight ship. it's almost a paramilitary organization and to suggest that this governor had no knowledge that the head, the new york appointee of the point authority wrote a letter and thought that roads had been broken because these lanes were closed without authorization strains credulity. >> and in terms of this new allegation that the feds are investigating the suggestion that christie deliberately chose a more expensive advertising campaign after hurricane sandy, using him and his family to promote himself politically, does that seem to you a fair stick to beat him with? because the agency itself has come out and said, actually, we never included in the original proposal any mention or suggestion of using the governor. the decision to include the governor a

i'd like to continue that process as we move forward. >> assemblyman john wisniewski.n to be heading up the assembly's supercommittee on this investigation in new jersey. thank you for your time tonight. as always, please keep us posted. >> i will, rachel. >> still moving fast. >>> lots more ahead. stay with us. >>> we've got more on the new jersey bridge scandal and some other news coming up. the excellent frank rich is here tonight. but there's also some late breaking news tonight out of the very red state of oklahoma. a federal district court judge in oklahoma tonight has ruled that that state's ban on same-sex marriage is unconstitutional under federal law. the judge calling it, "an arbitrary irrational exclusion of just one class of oklahoma citizens from a governmental benefit." last month, when a similar ruling struck down the marriage ban in utah, the collective response nationally was basically, oh my god, utah! utah is the reddest state in the nation. not true. as it turns out. i mean, utah is a really, really, really red state. really red. but, you know, wha

i'd like to continue that process as we move forward. >> assemblyman john wisniewski.to be heading up the assembly's supercommittee on this investigation in new jersey. thank you for your time tonight. as always, please keep us posted. >> i will, rachel. >> still moving fast. >>> lots more ahead. stay with us. so be ready with a stouffer's lasagna. it's the mouthwatering recipe that keeps them coming back. stouffer's. made with care for your family. to prove to you that aleve is the better choice for him, he's agreed to give it up. that's today? [ male announcer ] we'll be with him all day as he goes back to taking tylenol. i was okay, but after lunch my knee started to hurt again. and now i've got to take more pills. ♪ yup. another pill stop. can i get my aleve back yet? ♪ for my pain, i want my aleve. ♪ [ male announcer ] look for the easy-open red arthritis cap. is your tv powered by coal? natural gas? 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 electric

just because john wisniewski is obsessed with this, and loretta weinberg, it shows you they have nothing to do. >> they are new jersey legislators who have been investigating this scandal since it first broke. >> he's denied that anyone in his office had any knowledge of the shutdown whatsoever. >> i've spoken to everybody on my staff and asked anybody around here and my campaign manager if they knew anything more about this that we didn't already know, they told me know, and so i -- you know, the chief of staff and the chief council assured me that they feel comfortable that they have all the information we need to have. >> now it turns out the whole thing was ordered from within his office and at least one of his top staffers had updates throughout on the planning for the shutdown on it's effect on the town. the campaign manager was one of the people advising the guy who ordered the shutdown on how to react to the press coverage of the scandal once it broke into the open that campaign manager has just this week been named the chairman of the republican party for the whole state of new

his name is john wisniewski. now he's nationally known. he does the sunday network shows, right? he is famous now because he's running the investigation in the legislature into chris christie's administration and what happened on that bridge connecting new york and new jersey, the george washington bridge. looking to the lane shutdowns on that bridge that gridlocked the town of ft. lee and other issues beyond that now. but when we first contacted john wisniewski as a source on this story, he was very eager for us to understand that trying to oversee the port authority was not like any other little transportation agency anywhere else in the country. finding a scandal at that particular agency is not like, you know, busting up a card game on the corner. it's like busting up las vegas. the port authority is mega. it is rich. and it behaves like it. the port authority has more than 7,000 employees. and the average salary of those more than 7,000 employees, according to john wisniewski is over $140,000. that's the average. and they have got 7,000 people. and when you've got that much

first he thought assemblyman wisniewski and i had nothing else to do, we were fix sated, then he made fun of the deal, it was no big deal, sure, i was out there rearranging the cones. just yesterday he found out thousands of people were put into jeopardy. that emt people could not get to the calls that came out. that schoolchildren -- you're driving your kindergartner to school on his or her first day to school and caught in a two hour traffic jam. he didn't know any of this until yesterday and then he had so little curiosity that he never asked bridget kelly, you were sitting in your office one day and decided to create a traffic jam in ft. lee? there's no curiosity about that? there are so many holes in this. his words were appropriate, gee, i'm sorry, but he was four months too late and i cannot believe that it happened only yesterday that he noticed that this was a pretty big deal. this was the first week of school. it was the week of 9/11. it's the busiest bridge in the world. it's the week of the 9/11 observance. it's a homeland security target. and he just noticed that yesterda

you know, i've talked extensively with assemblyman wisniewski that's doing their investigation. and also senator weinberg who's chairing the senate committee. and both of them have indicated to me that there's going to be sort of a round one here. none of them would rule out that this could eventually go up to the governor, but they're kind of not running straight to that door. and they're hitting this round of people first. >> everyone knows in a normal evolution of an investigation, there's always the biggest possible target. you know, the kingpin in the mob investigation. and they never start there. they always kind of work their way up. because they expect, as they work their way up the chain, some of the underlings will start to give up things. >> the way you approach something like this. it's like an onion with a rotten outside. you peel away one layer at a time. and maybe, you know, you get all the rotten layers out and you can use, you know, what's left. you don't just take a mallet and smash the onion. you peel away very slowly. i think the assembly should be commended

. >> john wisniewski's mentioned the i word there. >> we're way ahead of that. >> not one single link to chris christie has been found. >> but it gets to a culture in his office. >> if there is a culture -- >> that is problematic. >> in terms of what the republican leaders are doing. >> we have these two competing narratives. >> strategies ranging from silence -- >> we should reserve judgment. >> -- to overt criticism. zplt people you hire are the policies that are implemented. >> ouch. >> personnel is policy. >> people are now doubting his relationships. >> last week's obsessive scrutiny of the george washington bridge scandal was at the beginning of the end. >> this will take a while. >> this could be another tough week for him. >>> tonight chris christie is being compared to richard nixon by a man who knows what he is talking about. republican columnist george will. >> this is not a phony scandal because as the principal watergate scholar here knows, john dean sent a memo to mr. higby, who was the assistant of the chief of staff haldeman saying we should use the machinery, the fede

. >> chairman wisniewski. >> chairman wisniewski. >> which were drawn before the process? >> he's already determined from his mind in statements he's made in the past couple of weeks that the governor is a liar and that the governor should be -- >> i don't think -- >> i don't think i've heard the chairman say the governor is a liar. >> he said he either doesn't know what's going on in his office or he's a liar. taken as it is, but here's my problem. i was sitting on the transportation committee, sitting in for one of the other members and asked for the documents to be provided and they were not disclosed to us. up until less than 24 hours before the hearing. yet, mr. wisniewski was in the newspapers the weekend before stating he had the documents for two whole weeks an reviewed 900 pages twice. that to me is a problem. you can't have committee members not being provided with the information. and in a fair process and it's the public's confidence, craig. >> it sounds like you're saying that the investigating that's going on right now between these two committees, you alread

it's going to be co-chaired by john wisniewski, who's been the assembly chairman of the special committee that they had created and loretta weinberg, who is the state senator and senate majority leader. and they will share the same special counsel, the former federal council member hired by the assembly, and they will proceed. look, they were facing some criticism for redundancy here, because remember both the assembly and the senate had authorized their own special committees. some republicans were saying why do we need two committees doing the same thing with its own counsel costing the taxpayers extra money, now they will join together. the scope, as i understand, will essentially be the same. the bridgegate matter and any other allegations of abuses of government power that will give them the authority to go after the hoboken matter and any other allegations that come up, so the one thing that probably helps the democrats here a little bit, there had been a big push by the christie camp to go after wisniewski as a partisan, saying he had already prejudged the results of the investigat

november 13th, senator weinberg, assemblyman wisniewski and i go to the meeting.in, inquiring about this, no answer. december 4th, same thing. well go there to a monthly meeting, no answer. december 6th, wildstein resigns. now the commissioners from new jersey, sampson, bagger, pacino, shuber and steiner, three of them were put there by the governor. >> three of the commission? >> right. they were nominated by the governor. they must know him. they didn't pick up phone and say we have a problem here. we have elected officials inquiring about this alleged traffic study. i find it hard that they wouldn't call. one, wouldn't call and tell his office that these people are here inquiring. i just don't understand it. >> now, let me ask you, sal rizzo, you mentioned stepien, and how he was the whiz behind the campaign. tell me about him. and in your opinion, could he have ordered this? >> i don't know whether he ordered it. that remains to be seen. and i think the investigation continues -- >> did he have the clout? >> sure. anyone could have ordered it that is mentioned

let's ask the chairman leading the investigation, assemblyman john wisniewski.for being here. >> thank you, rachel. >> does the subpoena to the office of the governor indicate that you expect documents, specifically from governor christie's own official e-mail and phone records? >> the reason we subpoena the office of the governor is we want the records, you know, we've asked for things from charlie mckenna, regena egea, and the office of the governor is the entity that controls those records. so in order to get those to make sure that we're doing it all properly, that's why the subpoena is there. this is not about the governor. we don't have any connection right now that the governor sent an e-mail or received an e-mail, but we do see a lot of other names in the e-mail chains we've looked at. so we want to make sure that we can see the other e-mails, perhaps, that other people in the office received, involving this incident. and this is the best way to get to it. >> to be clear, though, if there is anything in the governor's office that was written by the gover

. >> right now john wisniewski is still with us. what do you make about that? you're one of the co-chairs of this investigation in the state legislature. >> it's too early to make any final pronouncements about what this means, but what it does say are there serious concerns about the veracity of the governor's statement. that was made clear by the attorney that mr. wildstein's attorney where where he point blank said you shouldn't believe the governor. he says it based on documents that the committee hasn't seen. we need to see those documents to determine whether or not he's got a credible argument, that the governor wasn't telling the truth on january 8th. i mean, all told, the governor has shown a remarkable lack of curiosity about what happened, what was carried out by his staff. and that's an entirely different issue, but it certainly adds more questions to the investigation. >> let me bring another new jersey politician into this conversation. mark sokolich is the mayor of ft. lee, new jersey. ft. lee is the residents of ft. lee suffered significantly du

what you can tell us about wisniewski? go >> with all due respect to the chairman, i know him and i appreciate the kind of work that he does, it's really too early to start talking about impeachment for gosh sakes. we still don't know what happened. but if we do find out that laws were broken, i'm sure that he will be professional in carrying out his duties. i don't know if that will go as far as impeachment or not, though. >> i'm curious about you've written this book, you know the governor. does he approach problems like this by attacking them head-on and getting it all out there, does he circle the wagons and play defense? notwithstanding that nearly two hour news conference he had thursday. >> what surprised me is he had a written statement when all of this first broke. what he did with the marathon press conference is really more christie going out there and facing it and taking the questions. that's the chris christie that i know. i haven't known him to go and hide very much. he may have needed some time to read ever

let's start with where we left off with the assemblyman john wisniewski. the word now that the scandal itself could be growing a separate tentacle. how troubling is this? >> it's very troubling in terms of the sandy relief aid. the idea that the governor is spending $2 million in state money than should have been spent is going to be raising some concerns, not just for people in new jersey but people across the kucountry. but the larger issue, we have two narratives, this tough talking brass, no nonsense guy and other supposed to be a guy that can work together with democrat. they are coming into conflict because the reality is he hasn't been this bipartisan figure at all. >> he has actually -- what you're seeing is politically he's really not bipartisan but when he's in government he is because of the things he achieved with a democratic controlled state legislature. when it comes to sandy money, that's already been discussed a few times before. yes -- >> but the investigation is new. this investigation is new. >> wow, imagine someone doing an investigati

today, john wisniewski referred those to another. as we wait for more truth about the conspiracy to cause traffic problems in ft. lee, there's today a fresh problem for his old boss, governor christie. a problem that is not connected to the traffic jam scandal. what do you think? stay with us. [ female announcer ] when you're serious about fighting wrinkles, turn to roc® retinol correxion®. one week, fine lines appear to fade. one month, deep wrinkles look smoother. after one year, skin looks ageless. high performance skincare™ only from roc®. but then it goes to the closet...to die. so try glow unstopables. they fill your closet with scents so fresh they last for 12 weeks! downy unstopables. try with downy infusions. >>> in 2009, michelle brown was the assistant u.s. attorney in the state of new jersey. she was forced to resign from the position after it came out her boss, the u.s. attorney, lent her nearly $50,000. her boss was the u.s. attorney in new jersey in 2009, a man named chris christie. he was running for governor at the t

we got a 600-word e-mail just blasting john wisniewski, the lead interrogator, the assemblyman leading this inqu y inquiry, and before, they had been really quiet about this stuff. immediately after bridgegate happened, christie's closest people today me their best hope is the democrats would overreach, there would be some sort of perception that they were piling on. and they reached that point this weekend where he thought they can make the case that democrats and the so-called liberal media were going after them. and that's why you saw the change in tone over the weekend. >> i think it's interesting. now, the question is, dawn zimmer was somebody -- i want to read a few tweets, mike. she was not somebody antagonistic, she had her own election, a tweet on august 20th, done a great job for new jersey and hoboken, a nonpartisan election, and i'm glad he's been our governor, but not endorsing because of the nonpartisan mayoral race. what's interesting is what she told matt katz's nyc, was she being punished for not endorsing, pretty kind words. >> -- 20/20 hindsight, in the context we're

but the committee chairman stressed that could change that is wisniewski. as of now the committee is not expected to meet again until mid-february when they get the people coming in of course on these subpoenas. joining me now assembly woman bonnie watson. thank you, assemblywoman. what are you curious about? what do you want to know as a politician who is involved in the assembly, has watched governor christie's behavior, his m.o., if you will, and has watched this case unwind. what it is when you go to bed at night do you think somebody i would like to know something i don't know the answer to yet. >> well, unlike the governor, i haven't lost any sleep in bed over this. but i do want to know as a legislator, as a lawmaker, as someone who is supposed to be upholding the law where does this go? what happened here? who was responsible for this? we know that there was an abuse of power. we know that there was an incident which created havoc, perhaps unsafe conditions that inconvenienced thousands of commuters. well live in the most densely populated state in

because initially wisniewski, who heads the probe, was only talking about limited subpoenas to kelly and stepien, bridget kelly and bill stepien, the former campaign manager. and then reid schar, the prosecutor who put rod blagojevich in jail in illinois comes in, looks at this and says no, a wide net has to be cast here. and we end up with these 20 subpoenas going back, by the way, to september of 2012. more than a year before these lane closures took place. and the numbers of people who got the subpoenas, their names we're just learning today who had not surfaced publicly before who received subpoenas. we're not quite sure why. but it does look like they've got evidence that has not been made public that suggests that there was a -- at least they want to look at a much broader net than we had initially thought. >> michael isikoff, we'll be watching this. this is broad. and this going forward. thank you for your time tonight. >> thank you. >> joining me now is the man michael referred to, new jersey assemblyman democrat john wisniewski. he has been leading the assembly's investigati

i want to start with john wisniewski, sir. let me ask you about this.ow soon are you going to get to bridget kelly? it seems to me she would have a lot to say under oath, unless she takes the fifth like the other fellow. >> bridget kelly is next on our list, and we intend to issue a subpoena to have her come and testify. but we still have a lot of unanswered questions from david wildstein, and unanswered questions from bill baroni. the problem is every time we get an answer to one question, we wind up with ten more questions to ask. >> what is your interest here? what do you want to find out? do you believe the governor told the truth today or the whole truth is my question. did he in fact give a credible statement today when he said from the time of these bridge holdup, these four-hour holdups which were clearly ordered by somebody, and they lasted four days and caused all kinds of trouble and anger, he believed all that time there was a traffic study involved. and that some bureaucrat somewhere was academically trying to count cars or some absurd stor

but initially, as john wisniewski said before, we're looking into abuse of power here. we're looking into people being punished because the mayor didn't do what someone wanted him to do, and therefore the people they represent were punished. and the bridge was more than -- people at ft. lee, but people who try to cross the bridge and the folks in surrounding towns. and another common thread in this here is the redevelopment. ft. lee has a major redevelopment project that is occurring adjacent to the george washington bridge. and of course the allegation in hoboken about their redevelopment project down there. so there is some common threads here. but if the leadership and legal counsel feel that this is the scope of the committee, then we should go in that direction also. we'll see where this takes us. >> let me come back to you, steve. you talked about the investigation committee in the legislature. but the one that is also very serious is the u.s. attorney. paul fishman is the u.s. attorney in that area. what do you know about him? what kind of prosecutor is he? and i

do you believe that he assemblyman wisniewski and other folks in lecture -- >> listen, i think they have every right to do what they are doing given what was revealed yesterday. you know, i'm certainly not going to question that. in terms of their right to conduct an investigation. i think given what was revealed yesterday, i was shocked by it. i assume they were, too. and i have a good relationship be the incoming speaker. and i'll work with him in every way that i possibly can to make sure we put this matter to rest. so certainly am not going to question their right or their ability to do that, no. >> if governor chris christie really does want to get to the bottom of this, should he do something else with regard to what he just explained there? should he insist somehow more overtly? how old he at least advice explicitly the committee that has subpoena power, the committee with subpoena power that brought us this far, should he insist publicly, more emphatically, that committee should be allowed to continue their investigation, including specifically their ability to subpoena documents

today, john wisniewski referred those contempt charges to joseph bokini in new jersey. truth about the conspiracy to cause traffic problems in ft. lee, there's today a fresh problem for his old boss, governor christie. a problem that is not connected to the traffic jam scandal. we think. stay with us. [ male announcer ] they say he was born to help people clean. but there are some places even mr. clean doesn't want to lug a whole bunch of cleaning supplies. that's why he created the magic eraser extra power. just one eraser's versatile enough to clean all kinds of different surfaces and three times more grime per swipe. so instead of fussing with rags and buckets, you can get back to the great outdoors, which can be pretty great. that's why when it comes to clean, there's only one mr. [ bird screeches ] ♪ there's only one mr. ♪ ♪ told ya you could do it. (dad vo) i want her to be safe. so, i taught her what i could and got her a subaru. (girl) piece of cake. ♪ (announcer) love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. i nethat's my geico digital insurance id card - gots all

dana bash, gloria borger, and john wisniewski who is leading the investigation on the bridge investigation. let me ask you first what do you make of what the mayor is saying there? do you believe her? >> they are very troubling allegations. we have seen the lieutenant governor acknowledged she had a conversation with the mayor. >> but the mayor's perception of the conversation is wrong and offensive. >> that's where we need to get to the bottom of it. there is a dispute as to who said what. >> someone is lying. >> the mayor is making serious allegations. they are very difficult in the light of the redevelopment, the port authority money used for a redevelopment study and the facts those are linked together with the redevelopment and the words that the lieutenant governor is said to have used linking it to the governor. there are a lot of facts we don't know. and it would be premature to rush to any conclusions. >> obviously, you a supporter of governor christie. do you believe that the lieutenant governor would say that? >> no. simply put these are two former federal prosecutors. they pros

. >> joining me now john wisniewsky. i understand you are not going to disclose who has been subpoenaed until they've been served, which makes sense. but explain the logic by which the committee decided who to subpoena. >> there was a lot of material the committee received from the subpoenas to wildstein baroni and others. we saw on your screen some of the e-mails that we looked at, but all of those e-mails have connections to other people and other individuals, or the people in those e-mails have bosses or people they report to. so we need to get to the bottom of a very simple question. what possessed bridget kelly to say it's time for traffic problems in fort lee. we need to know what was the conversation before it. you saw that e-mail. you had to have had a conversation before to understand what it meant. >> yep. >> what was that conversation, and who was it with? that's what we're going to try to find out. >> we talked about david sampson, he appears in the batch of e-mails in the first round of subpoenas. he's incre

. >> joining us on the phone, mayor giuliani, is john wisniewski.hose co-chairs in the new jersey legislator leading this entire investigation. give us your reaction to these latest developments. >> these are very serious allegations. they are based on a paragraph in a two-page letter that mr. wildstein's attorney wrote to the port authority seeking to have his legal fees paid. and in that one paragraph he calls into question the veracity of the governor's statements. based on documents that he says he's in possession of. i guess -- i don't know what those documents are right now, so it's hard to say what this means. i am concerned that mr. wildstein was under subpoena from the committee in the last session and provided documents and it appears that what he's talking about now has not been previously provided. so i'd like to know why those documents weren't given to the committee before or are these new documents or somebody else's documents he's talks about. >> if he withheld documents would that be some sort of crime? >> it would be contemptuous o

>> i'm going to have it to echo the words of chairman wisniewski.s is an investigation and we need to start at the beginning. before we can subpoena the governor, if that becomes an issue, we need to know what led up to his office. once we have all of the information, maybe -- >> wouldn't we just -- couldn't we save a bunch of time and start at the end, start at the top? >> this is a situation where you have an individual from his office who sent a text message that abused her position. we need to know what caused that atmosphere. we can't go to the top like you're suggesting without going to bottom to see what created this atmosphere to allow them to think that they had the power to shut down three lanes at the george washington bridge. so yes, while i understand you're suggesting why don't we just go to the top, go to the top and ask what question? we need to do the research -- >> the question you just asked. >> we need to know for sure what happened, why it happened before we can then question him. if it even gets to that point. >> just a moment

, suggesting that he was wisniewski what's going to have total control and it would freeze the republicansroundwork to make the case that this was going to be a partisan witch hunt by the democratic controlled legislature. now that would give, if the republicans continue to that drum beat, would give governor christie's office the out to say, this is not an appropriate inquiry. hasn't happened yet, so we're going to see, it's going to be very interesting to watch and see how the republicans respond today. >> michael isikoff following all of this in trenton. one of the co-chairs of the committee about what she hopes this investigation will uncover. >> the big, very big question is why. why would anybody think of creating a traffic jam and punishing thousands of innocent people? what was the reason? >> that was state senator lor receipt it weinberg there. bob ingle, the author of chris christie, the inside story of his rise to power. always good to see you. >> you bet. >> legislature appears to be taking somewhat of a mulligan on the investigation. is it now on a better course? >> i don't kn

he was talking about assemblyman john wisniewski.believe the subject of the investigation or the person who's the ultimate focus of the investigation, it would seem to me the assemblyman has an ethical obligation to step down and recuse himself. >> i know that you interviewed wisniewski last weekend. how was he approaching these investigations? i believe he has just issued a statement to refute what rudy giuliani is saying. >> he's saying he's been investigating this for months, taking it piece by piece. it was only when the e-mails emerged that contradicted the public accounts of the governor's office that he escalated the probe, widened it, got the resolution giving him new subpoena power. so he's defending himself. but the fact is that he's made some very strong statements basically saying he doesn't believe governor christie's account saying it lacks credibility. and that does give fodder for mayor giuliani and other allies to take swipes at him. and remember, governor christie's language in that state of the state is very signif

as recently as yesterday wisniewski was talking about only two subpoenas, documents and e-mails from bridget kelly, the former deputy chief of staff, and bill steppian, the former campaign manager. after getting advice from this newly hired special counsel, reed shar, who put rod blagojevich in jail, they decided to dramatically expand the scope of this subpoena list. we went from 2 to 20, and that's 17 individuals, 3 entities including campaign organizations, christie's re-election campaign is one of them. clearly an escalation. i should point out that after the committee met already we started hearing objections from republicans who are raising questions about the wording of the resolution, in particular one section that gives wisniewski, who's been outspoken in his criticism of the governor, sole custody and control over the subpoenaed documents. republicans say that's unfair. it doesn't give them equal access to the material that's coming in. and probably most significantly, minority leader brannick, who appeared in this brief conference, was asked as he was walking out, is this

we're not trying to do that. >> new jersey assemblyman john wisniewski, who chairs the new jersey assembly select committee on investigation in these matters, you have a lot of work ahead of you. thank you for being us. >> thank you, rachel. >>> as of steve kornacki o'clock on saturday morning, the huge political story out of new jersey became the two huge political stories out of new jersey. there does, though, remain one huge unanswered questions that's at the root of all of this. and that big unanswered question is coming up. stay with us. [ sneezes ] [ coughs ] i've got a big date, but my sinuses are acting up. it's time for advil cold and sinus. [ male announcer ] truth is that won't relieve all your symptoms. hmm? [ male announcer ] new alka seltzer plus-d relieves more symptoms than any other behind the counter liquid gel. thanks for the tip. [ male announcer ] no problem. oh...and hair products. aisle 9. [ inhales deeply ] oh what a relief it is. ♪ you're not doing anything it is. as fast as you used to, which is funny, 'cause i still do it better than her. you know, i don't think

john wisniewski, the assembly lead interrogator, they're all on stage. it was incredible. mean, the governor did not mention bridgegate once. he didn't even really allude to it, but it was hanging thick in the air because of the people who were there, like david samson who's the only link raelly between the two scandals going on, the alleged scandals going on. bridgegate and the situation in hoboken. then it was noticeable for the people that weren't there like bridget kelly. she's lost her job in this whole situation. >> matt katz, reporter for wnyc who's been all over this story. thank you for helping us understand this remarkable scene today. i appreciate you being here today. >> you got it, rachel. >> we'll right back. we have an important correction you may enjoy. stay with us. let me get this straight... [ female voice ] yes? lactaid® is 100% real milk? right. real milk. but it won't cause me discomfort. exactly, because it's milk without the lactose. and it tastes? it's real milk! come on, would i lie about this? [ female announcer ] lactaid. 100% real milk. no disc

only wisniewski has the authority the to issue subpoenas.te investigations and it seemed to me the groundwork is being laid for the governor to declare the assembly investigation, which is the most aggressive, may be inappropriate to cooperate with. >> i think it's becoming politically difficult to do that. the ground is shifting around them. >> i wasn't sure but i thought i heard had bramnick called for the u.s. attorney to investigate. it may not be appropriate for the legislative committee but perhaps that should be for the prosecutors to do. maybe all she needs to do is call up the u.s. attorney's office and they can get that going. >> that struck me, too. that struck me, too, when he said that. take us through, if you could, senator, where the -- because we had this flood of subpoenas that were issued by the assembly committee. your committee is yet to meet. what's happening? >> one thing that i think is very important is senator weinberg was really at the very forefront of this, the one who first started attending the port authority me

. >> i asked assemblyman wisniewsky this question as well and he didn't have an answer for me on it. i wonder with your background as a lawyer -- he's a lawyer too, but maybe you have a different perspective on it. that is, about the issue of destruction of documents and destruction of e-mail chains and text messages and things like that. in the way that this has unfolded, and we have been reporting on this since back in december. it trickled out and then became a flood. if i were one of the people who had been involved in this in any way, particularly if i had something damning, i would have burned my hard drives, thrown everything away, done anything i could to destroy evidence at this point. are you confident that that hasn't happened? and do you have the forensic power to unearth that stuff if people did try to destroy documents? >> i can tell you from my background in dealing with certain people who have been involved in situations like that, from an investigatory standpoint, short of them throwing it in the river and us not finding it, we'd be able to piece that back together.

we're not trying to do that. >> new jersey assemblyman john wisniewski, who chairs the new jersey assemblyelect committee on investigation in these matters, you have a lot of work ahead of you. thank you for being us. >> thank you, rachel. >>> as of steve kornacki oclock on saturday morning, the huge political story out of new jersey became the two huge political stories out of new jersey. there does, though, remain one huge unanswered questions that's at the root of all of this. and that big unanswered question is coming up. stay with us. >>> governor chris christie of new jersey gets inaugurated for his second term of governor tomorrow. which is amazing in itself. we've got one more development on that story tonight, which i have to tell you directly concerns msnbc. also, some important and strange news out of virginia and out of west virginia, still to come. stay with us. we use this board to compare car insurance rates side by side, so you get the same coverage, often for less. [ rattling ] that's one smart board. what else does it do -- reverse gravity? [ chuckles ] split atoms? [ who

we should also note, this is a question i asked cham wisniewski today at the news conference, whethermmittee's scope, whether its power is going to include looking into the allegations made by dawn zimmer, made by the mayor of hoboken over the weekend, first on msnbc. and the chairman wisniewski said that they are going to look at those comments and going to review the statements and take this investigation where the facts lead them. basically saying if it turns out that this is after all of the facts come out, this is more proof that this is an administration that abuses power, then that will also fall under the purview of this newly formed committee. >> and switching gears, to wendy davis, someone we've talked about quite a bit in texas, running for governor and running for the nomination for governor. and now forcing -- being forced to answer media reports down there that she had slightly altered her rumor focus the on the single mom aspects of it and didn't really give the time line correctly. you never want to be on the defensive about giving your biography when running for offic