What to Know
- Attorney General Christopher S. Porrino and Acting Bergen County Prosecutor Gurbir Grewal both recused themselves in the investigation
- The governor is on record repeatedly denying he was told about the closures the week of the shutdown
- A former Christie aide and a Port Authority appointee were convicted of conspiracy and fraud in connection with the lane closures
New Jersey's attorney general and Bergen County's top prosecutor have both recused themselves from a case investigating a civilian complaint of official misconduct against Gov. Chris Christie related to the George Washington Bridge lane closures.
Attorney General Christopher S. Porrino and Acting Bergen County Prosecutor Gurbir Grewal, both appointees of Christie, said they would not be able to investigate the complaint allowed by Judge Roy McGeady last month.
The complainant, activist Bill Brennan, has asked the court that all county prosecutors be disqualified from investigating the case and a special prosecutor to be assigned. Brennan has alleged that Christie knew about the lane closures the day they happened and didn't require his subordinates to reopen the roadway.
Christie has maintained that he didn't know about the lane closures, even as testimony in a criminal trial for one of his former top aides and a former appointee at the Port Authority implied that he and others on his staff knew about the lane realignments.
In a filing on Friday, John L Higgins III, Bergen County's acting first assistant prosecutor, asked that Brennan's motion and that he could investigate the case impartially. Higgins was not appointed to his post by Christie, but was hired to the prosecutor's office as a regular employee.
A hearing on Brennan's motion seeking a special prosecutor is set for Nov. 30.
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Christie has maintained that he didn't know about the lane closures, even as testimony in a criminal trial for one of his former top aides and a former appointee at the Port Authority implied that he and others on his staff knew about the lane realignments.
The aide, Bridget Kelly, and appointee, Bill Baroni, were both found guilty of fraud and conspiracy in the case earlier this month. Christie has never been charged in the case.
