A judge has found probable cause to charge New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie with official misconduct for his role in the Bridgegate scandal, according to reports Thursday.
Presiding Bergen County Municipal Court Judge Roy McGeady cited testimony from the federal trial of two former Christie aides convicted of scheming to close approach lanes to the George Washington Bridge in 2013 as revenge against a mayor who refused to endorse Christie’s successful re-election bid.
McGeady’s ruling stems from a complaint filed last year by retired Teaneck firefighter and political activist Bill Brennan, a Democratic candidate for governor who is seeking to have Christie prosecuted for second-degree official misconduct.
That crime is punishable by up to ten years in the slammer.
A Christie spokesman said McGeady was “violating the law, pure and simple.”
“This concocted claim was investigated for three months by the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, which summarily dismissed it, after concluding that the very same evidence relied upon again by this judge was utter nonsense,” spokesman Brian Murray said.