Judge Delays Deadline to Release George Washington Bridge Scandal List

A federal judge in New Jersey has delayed the release of a list of unindicted co-conspirators in the George Washington Bridge lane-closing case.

The judge had ordered the government to release the list by noon Friday in response to a motion filed by The Associated Press and other media organizations. But before the deadline hour approached, she moved the deadline to Tuesday as she considers a motion filed late Thursday by someone on the list who wants it kept private.

The motion said the man will be "publicly branded a felon without due process of law, causing him immediate and irreparable reputational harm."

Bridget Kelly, Christie's then-deputy chief of staff, and Bill Baroni, a top Christie appointee to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, the agency that operates the bridge, face federal wire fraud and civil rights charges and are scheduled for trial this fall.

They are alleged to have engineered the lane closures to create traffic jams in nearby Fort Lee, whose mayor had declined to endorse Christie for re-election. Both have pleaded not guilty and have sought to have the charges dismissed.

Christie has not been charged and has denied knowledge of the closures. This week he said it was "highly doubtful" he was on the list.

Thursday night's motion came on the same day the organizations asked federal prosecutors to release a separate list which reportedly shows the names of people who may have known about the conspiracy but weren't criminally charged.

Bruce Rosen, an attorney for the media companies in the suit, said he has requested a copy of the second list, which was created by federal investigators. He said the organizations will seek a court order to release the document if prosecutors don't provide it.

Kelly's attorney, Michael Critchley, initially requested the names in a filing in early March, a few weeks after a footnote in a government filing referred to individuals "who may have had knowledge of the conspiracy or took actions that happened to further its goals" but did not join the conspiracy.

Copyright AP - Associated Press
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