Former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, a friend and supporter of embattled New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie, says his years as a prosecutor leave him doubtful of the allegations made by Hoboken's mayor of a political threat.
Mayor Dawn Zimmer
has said in recent days that Christie's Lt. Gov. Kim Guadagno and community affairs commissioner Richard Constable told her Superstorm Sandy relief aid would be withheld if Zimmer didn't support a redevelopment project the governor supported. Guadagno has denied the charges.
Giuliani told
CNN's Anderson Cooper that his experience as a federal prosecutor has him questioning Zimmer's story. She didn't make the statement until "the witch hunt began," he noted, and she said just a few months ago that Christie was a great governor.
"There are a lot of what we would call as lawyers prior contradictory statements to the statements she's now making," Giuliani said.
When Cooper pointed out that Zimmer said she didn't come forward earlier because she feared no one would believe her, Giuliani laughed.
"Well, I'd like to see if I wouldn't come forward with an allegation like that if it hurt the people of the City of New York because I thought people wouldn't believe me," the former mayor responded. "That's a heck of a thing to say."
Giuliani said Zimmer doesn't seem like a very strong mayor if she wasn't willing to come forward and fight for the people of her city.
Cooper noted that Zimmer said she was intimidated because she was not a political veteran, just a former stay-at-home mom who decided to run for office. Giuliani said she sounds fairly unintimidated now.
Giuliani had tougher criticism for Democratic Assemblyman John Wisniewski, who is heading the legislative probe into the bridge lane closings pulled off by Christie aides as political payback.
Wisniewski, he said, called Christie a liar even before the investigation began. That leads Giuliani to believe the committee won't be fair. He called on Wisniewski to recuse himself.
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