MANHATTAN VALLEY — Mayor Bill de Blasio said he doesn't know if Gov. Andrew Cuomo conspired to cover-up the Bridgegate scandal, but he has no doubt that New Jersey Gov. Christ Christie was involved.
A witness in the federal trial about the September 2013 closure of lanes leading to the George Washington Bridge in Fort Lee, New Jersey, testified that Cuomo and Christie conspired to smother the scandal by putting out a false report claiming that the lanes were closed due to a traffic study.
In reality, the lane was closed to punish the mayor of Fort Lee who did not support Christie's reelection.
Cuomo said the testimony of David Wildstein was "gossip" since the former Christie aide admitted he heard of the alleged conversation between the two governors second hand.
Both Cuomo and Christie have denied involvement in the scandal.
"I have no idea whether Gov. Cuomo was involved in any way. I do know Governor Christie was involved," de Blasio said at an unrelated press conference. "And I think the torrent of information that keeps coming out related to Governor Christie is the crucial issue there."
Wildstein testified that Christie laughed out loud when told how he and another aide had tied up traffic in Fort Lee by closing the lanes.
While de Blasio has had an ongoing feud with Cuomo, the mayor has been critical of Christie, a one-time Republican candidate for president who is now an adviser and surrogate for Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump.
"I think it looks worse and worse for him," de Blasio said of Christie. "And what they did was reprehensible and I think a certain justice is being served here."
Christie's office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
De Blasio has endorsed his former boss, Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton, for president, and is now campaigning for her in battleground states.
The mayor recently campaigned in Wisconsin for Clinton while his wife Chirlane McCray campaigned in Ohio. De Blasio will fly to Michigan this weekend to stump for Clinton in Detroit.
De Blasio has attacked Trump and his policies at every turn, saying the real estate businessman is not fit to be president and that his policies on everything from immigration to crime would produce irreparable harm to New York City and the nation.
Clinton's election, however, would "change the trajectory of the country and the federal government" and "help New York City in a very big and very material way,” he has said.
