Chris Christie still faces investigations by a New Jersey legislative committee and a probe by the local U.S. attorney’s office because of last year’s bridge scandal, but last week, when the New Jersey governor mingled with some of the Republican Party’s most influential fundraisers at Mitt Romney’s three-day political retreat in Utah, he told business leaders and GOP donors that he’s moving past the scandal. “It’s over, it’s done with, and I’m moving on,” said Christie.
The governor has denied that he knew of the road closures in advance of the four-day traffic jam. In a recent report, his lawyers pointed the finger at his aides.
“There’s this kind of reputation out there of me being a micromanager. I’m not. I delegate enormous authority to my staff,” said Christie when he addressed a group of 300 donors during his speech. “There’s no way that anybody would think that I know about everything that’s going on. I don’t know what else to say except to tell them that I had no knowledge of this. I first found out about it after it was over.”
Although Christie tried to dismiss any concerns, there is still a palpable uneasiness about the swirl of investigations surrounding Christie, and some say that he could be too damaged to be the Republican Party’s nominee in 2016.
According to the Washington Post, which spoke to attendees of the closed session with Christie, he did not discuss a potential run for president in 2016, but focused on unifying the Republican Party ahead of the 2014 elections.