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Christie: Aides who ordered Bridgegate ‘inexplicably stupid’

New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said that the aides who ordered up the Bridgegate are “inexplicably stupid” – and said the scandal has ruined his appetite.

“You don’t sleep, you don’t eat… you struggle. You struggle,” Christie told ABC’s Diane Sawyer, when asked about how he is dealing with the uproar of the closing of several lanes at the George Washington Bridge by his aides, apparently because of a political vendetta.

“But I do believe that what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger… It’s been a very, very tough time professionally. Not the toughest time in my life, but certainly the toughest time in my life professionally.”

The interview came after a $1 million taxpayer-funded report he commissioned clears him of all wrongdoing in “Bridgegate” on Thursday.

Asked what he thought the motivation was for the closure, Christie said he didn’t fully know.

“I don’t believe it was for me … Sometimes people do inexplicably stupid things,” the governor said. “Anybody who really knows me knows that I would not believe that doing anything inexplicably stupid would please me.”

Bill Stepien and Bridget Anne Kelly, two Christie aides involves in the Bridgegate scandal.Angel Chevrestt

He also said he doesn’t remember being told about the lane closures as they were happening.

“This report says I had no knowledge before it happened nor did I authorize it or have anything to do with it,” Christie told Sawyer Thursday night.

The scheme to block two of the three access lanes approaching the GWB from Fort Lee, NJ, beginning last Sept. 9 was widely believed to be retaliation against Democratic Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich, who didn’t endorse Christie for re-election.

The report blamed Bridget Anne Kelly, Christie’s then-deputy chief of staff, and David Wildstein, whom Christie appointed to the Port Authority to handle special projects, for orchestrating it.

But the report also referenced that Wildstein said he informed the governor about the lane closures during a public event on Sept. 11.

“I don’t have any recollection of him saying anything, but I’ll tell you this, I’ll tell you what he didn’t say – he didn’t say, ‘By the way governor, I’m closing down some lanes on the George Washington Bridge to stick it to the mayor, is that ok? That’d I’d remember,” Christie said.

Asked if he was clueless, Christie said that he merely “trusted too much.”

“Not clueless, but it certainly makes me feel taken advantage of,” he said.

Christie, who was long considered a front-runner for the White House before the scandal, said the scandal hasn’t impacted his future aspirations but makes him a better leader. He said he has never considered resigning.

“What’s happened in the past 10 weeks I think ultimately will make me a better leader, whether it’s as governor of New Jersey or in any other job I might take in the public or private sector.”