Supreme Court throws out convictions of New Jersey officials in Bridgegate scandal

Read the statements from President Trump and former Governor Chris Christie. The corruption of the Obama administration continues to be exposed. It’s breathtaking.

Here is my statement in reaction to the Supreme Court’s decision today. Complete exoneration for my team from the prosecutorial misconduct of Paul Fishman and the Obama Justice Department. pic.twitter.com/4JU8K17jtV

— Chris Christie (@GovChristie) May 7, 2020

….are getting caught doing very evil things, and Republicans should take note. This was grave misconduct by the Obama Justice Department! @GovChristie

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 7, 2020

Supreme Court throws out convictions of New Jersey officials in Bridgegate scandal

By CNN.com, May 7, 2020

The Supreme Court threw out fraud convictions on Thursday against two New Jersey officials involved in the “Bridgegate” political scandal, the George Washington Bridge traffic jam that rocked the administration of then-Gov. Chris Christie.

Writing for a unanimous court, Justice Elena Kagan said that “for no reason” other than “political payback” the aides “used deception” to cut access lanes from Fort Lee, New Jersey, to the bridge.

The move “jeopardized the safety of the town’s residents,” Kagan wrote, but concluded that “not every corrupt act by state or local officials is a federal crime.”

Bridget Anne Kelly, who served as an aide to Christie, and Bill Baroni, the deputy director of the Port Authority, were convicted for their roles in the scandal and ultimately sentenced to 13 and 18 months in 2017. Currently out on bond, they asked the Supreme Court to reverse their convictions.

The ruling is the latest example of the court narrowing the type of conduct by public officials that can be considered fraud under federal law.

In recent years, the court has decisively narrowed the government’s ability to charge public officials with federal crimes for corruption offenses, most notably in 2016 after former Virginia Gov. Bob McDonnell took hundreds of thousands of dollars from a businessman who wanted the governor to intervene on his behalf with state officials to benefit his business.

“Once again, the Supreme Court has thrown out federal criminal convictions of public officials who, by their own admission, abused their power for corrupt and illegitimate purposes,” said Steve Vladeck, CNN Supreme Court analyst and professor at the University of Texas School of Law.

“The harder question is whether Congress will respond to rulings like this one by expanding the scope of these laws, or whether we’re going to end up with a world in which criminal liability for such nefarious conduct depends upon the color of one’s collar,” Vladeck added.

Christie’s aides argued that they were wrongly convicted and that prosecutors overreached when they charged them under various federal fraud statutes.

Kagan added that the aides’ scheme did not aim to obtain money or property, and therefore they could not have violated wire fraud laws.

 

The Truth Must be Told

Your contribution supports independent journalism

Please take a moment to consider this. Now, more than ever, people are reading Geller Report for news they won't get anywhere else. But advertising revenues have all but disappeared. Google Adsense is the online advertising monopoly and they have banned us. Social media giants like Facebook and Twitter have blocked and shadow-banned our accounts. But we won't put up a paywall. Because never has the free world needed independent journalism more.

Everyone who reads our reporting knows the Geller Report covers the news the media won't. We cannot do our ground-breaking report without your support. We must continue to report on the global jihad and the left's war on freedom. Our readers’ contributions make that possible.

Geller Report's independent, investigative journalism takes a lot of time, money and hard work to produce. But we do it because we believe our work is critical in the fight for freedom and because it is your fight, too.

Please contribute here.

or

Make a monthly commitment to support The Geller Report – choose the option that suits you best.

• $25.00 here
• $50.00 here
• $75.00 here
• $100.00 here
• $250.00 here