Port Authority official David Wildstein has a motive to say New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie had prior knowledge of the bridge lane closures that now are dogging his administration, says former New York Mayor Rudy Giuliani.
"[Wildstein] has a real motive to bring the governor into this: so he can get his legal fees paid, and then I guess the next step would be to get immunity," Giuliani said Monday on CNN's
"The Lead with Jake Tapper."
"So, you have to take this with a grain of salt," Giuliani said.
A New York Times article on Friday said Wildstein had evidence of Christie's knowledge, but later changed the article to say he knows where evidence is.
After the initial report, Christie's office
attacked Wildstein in a 700-word email.
Wildstein is a longtime associate of Christie. The two have known each other since high school, and the email even included a lawsuit Wildstein filed over a school board election when he was 16.
Giuliani agreed that was over the top, telling Tapper, "Sometimes you can throw a few more things over the transom than you should."
Instead, he said, Christie's office should have focused on questions of Wildstein's credibility.
"I think they are sufficient to create some real doubt about whether or not he really has this evidence, or exactly what this evidence is," Giuliani said.
Christie held a double-digit lead in early GOP presidential polls before the Bridge-gate scandal broke, but
has fallen into the middle of the pack after emails were disclosed that members of his staff purposely closed lanes on the George Washington Bridge for four days for possible political purposes. Christie has denied any personal knowledge of the lane closures before they took effect.
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