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Christie fires staffer over Bridgegate, but says ‘I’m responsible’

Gov. Chris Christie on Thursday fired the top aide who brazenly plotted the crippling lane closures on the George Washington Bridge – insisting he was “blindsided” by the scandal but admitting that ultimately “I’m responsible.”

“I terminated her employment because she lied to me,” Christie said about Bridget Anne Kelly, 41, his former deputy chief of staff during a nearly two-hour news conference in Trenton, adding that he had no “inkling anyone on my staff could be so stupid and so deceitful.”

Kelly – who sent an email to longtime Christie crony and then-Port Authority official David Wildstein that read “Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee” – was sent packing at 9 a.m. Thursday morning.

Christie also forced his two-time campaign manager Bill Stepien – who was aware of the vengeful scheme and later played a role in the damage control effort – to take his name out of the running to lead New Jersey’s Republican party.

Stepien – who was only named as the new head the state GOP on Tuesday – also lost a lucrative contract with the Republican Governor’s Association, of which Christie is the head.

“I was disturbed by the tone and behavior and attitude and the callous indifference that was displayed in the emails by former campaign manager Bill Stepien,” Christie said.

The governor – who is expected to seek the GOP presidential nomination – repeatedly denied that he knew about the scheme until the emails surfaced Wednesday.

“I am stunned by the abject stupidity that was shown here. This was handled in a callous and indifferent way,” said Christie, apologizing profusely for the scandal.

“I come out here today to apologize to the people of New Jersey, the people of Fort Lee and I am embarrassed and humiliated by the conduct of the people on my team,” he said.

“I also need to apologize for my failure as the governor of this state to fail to under the true nature of the problem sooner than I did.”

Christie also said he was heading to Fort Lee later Thursday to try to meet with Mayor Mark Sokolich, whom Wildstein derisively mocked as a “Serbian” even though he is of Croatian descent.

“I’m going to be going to Fort Lee to ask to meet with the mayor, to apologize to the mayor face to face, and apologize to the people in that town,” he said.

Christie also said he was not aware that his staff had sought Sokolich’s endorsement in the November election.

“Mayor Sokolich was never on my radar screen. I never saw this as political retribution because I didn’t think he did anything to us,” he said. “I wouldn’t have been able to pick him out of a line-up.”

The governor said he gathered his staff four weeks ago and told them to come clean if they knew anything about the closures.

When they told him they did not, he had a press conference and said there was no political motive and that the closures were for a traffic study – even joking that he was the guy who moved the traffic cones.

“They all reported no information other than what we already knew. That was obviously a lie,” Christie said.

He said he’d grill his staff again to see if there are others who were in on the petty political payback – and would not rule out further punishments if others are found to be involved.

“If there’s any other evidence that comes forward that requires me to take action I will take it,” he said.

And while insisting he didn’t know – saying he was “blindsided” by the revelations after a workout about 9 a.m. Wednesday – he repeated that the buck stopped with him.

“I am responsible for what happened. I am sad to report to the people of New Jersey that we fell short,” he said. “I don’t want any of you to confuse what I’m saying. I am responsible for what happens under my watch, the good and the bad.”

And he bristled at a question about his reputation as a bully.

“I am who I am, but I am not a bully,” he declared.

Christie also said he won’t hold up the nomination of Kevin O’Dowd – his chief of staff until after the November election – as Attorney General.

Kelly is the sister of a longtime Garden State emergency responder. Brother Eamon Daul is a firefighter and the EMS supervisor at New Jersey’s St. Clare’s Health Systems, records show.

Another brother, Liam, recently landed a $70,000-a-year job as a trader in the investment division for New Jersey’s Treasury Dept.

Kelly joined the Christie administration in 2010 as director of legislative relations, and was named in April 2013 to her $140,000-a-year gig as the governor’s deputy chief of staff.

A mom of four, she and her golf-pro husband, Patrick, are separated, according to public records, which show the couple recently transferred their Ramsey house to Bridget’s name, with Patrick moving to another nearby address.

Kelly could not be reached for comment Thursday.

Stunning – though heavily redacted – emails released Wednesday disclosed Kelly, Wildstein and Stepien all knew of the scheme to punish Sokolich for not endorsing Christie in last year’s election.

The closures caused rush-hour delays of up to four hours, stranding school buses and slowing EMS response times.

The gridlock delayed emergency responders in four medical situations.

Ambulances were slow to get to a 91-year-old woman who lay unconscious in the street, and she later died of cardiac arrest.

“Awful. I feel awful,” Christie said when asked about the death.

The disciplinary moves came as Christie desperately tried to put a lid on the “Bridgegate” scandal.

Only days earlier, Christie heaped praise on Stepien, who was expected to head up his campaign for the White House in 2016.

“I’ve asked Bill Stepien to be our new State Party Chairman because no one better understands how to grow our party, communicate our message and, most importantly, win elections,” Christie said then in a statement. “Bill Stepien is the best Republican operative in the country, and New Jersey Republicans will be fortunate to have him leading our Party.”

In between Christie campaigns, Stepien worked as the governor’s deputy chief of staff for legislative and intergovernmental affairs in Trenton.

Also Thursday, Paul J. Fishman, the US Attorney for New Jersey, was set to announce a federal investigation into Bridgegate, The New York Times reported, citing a source.

And Sokolich on Wednesday angrily blasted Christie as an “idiot.”

“We are arguably the most progressive community in the state of New Jersey run by this idiot, and we should be applauded for that, not penalized for it,” he said on MSNBC.

The Democrat also went after Wildstein.

“David Wildstein deserves an ass-kicking. Sorry. There, I said it,” Sokolich said, charitably adding that he is not hoping that Christie was behind the “Bridgegate” scandal.

“I’m not rooting for an email to surface that specifically and expressly has the governor authorizing this retribution. I’m not because it’s not in my nature,” he said on the “All in With Chris Hayes” show.

“But I will tell you the credibility level is getting reduced and reduced and reduced as this story continues to move on.”

Sokolich also dismissed Christie’s contention that the two had never met.

“I have a feeling his recollection of me is a little better than he’s revealing quite frankly,” he said.

The feisty mayor then offered the embattled Republican governor some blunt advice – and demanded that the state reimburse the borough for costs incurred during the shutdown.

“You need to reach out to the families who were waiting for ambulances taking three times longer to get there you need to reach out to the thousands of families that couldn’t get their kids to school and you need to reach out to my chief fiscal officer and figure out how much this cost Fort Lee so we can get a reimbursement check from Trenton,” he said. “That’s what I think we need to do. Don’t apologize to me. I don’t want an apology.”

Christie, who had long denied foul play by his staff in the traffic mess, was not “cc’d” in the e-mails and claimed that Kelly and other trusted appointees kept him out of the loop on the plot.

“I am outraged and deeply saddened to learn that not only was I misled by a member of my staff, but this completely inappropriate and unsanctioned conduct was made without my knowledge,” he said in a written statement after canceling his only public appearance on Wednesday.

“What I’ve seen today for the first time is unacceptable.”

Kelly, who requested the lane closures in an August e-mail to Wildstein, then a Christie-appointed PA executive who later resigned as the scandal exploded.

“Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee,” she wrote.

“Got it,” Wildstein replied.

Two of three on-ramps to the bridge were closed during the morning rush from Sept. 9 to 12 — the first days of the new school year — causing chaotic, hours-long backups on the streets of Fort Lee.

When Sokolich complained in phone calls to the PA, Kelly asked Wildstein in an e-mail if anyone returned his calls.

“Radio silence,” he replied.

On the second day of lane closures, a sender whose name is redacted wrote Wildstein, “I feel bad about the kids.”

He replied, “They are the children of Buono voters” — referring to Democrat Barbara Buono, whom Christie defeated easily in the November gubernatorial election.

The lane closures were halted after four days by a PA official appointed by New York Gov. Cuomo.

Wildstein reacted in an e-mail, saying the Christie-appointed PA chairman, David Samson, “is helping us to retaliate” against the New York officials.

The PA first blamed the surprise lane closures on a “traffic safety pattern” study.

And Christie on Thursday insisted there may have been a traffic study underway during the closures – but then joked that he didn’t want anything more to do with that issue.

“I’m out of the traffic study business for certain,” Christie said.

Wildstein and Bill Baroni — another Christie appointee to the PA — resigned as New Jersey officials investigated the traffic tie-up. Christie claimed it was unrelated.

A state Assembly committee hearing was scheduled for Thursday in Trenton — and Wildstein is scheduled to testify.

Wildstein’s lawyer filed court papers to block the subpoena, but a judge tossed out the motion and said Wildstein would have to testify

New Jersey Democrats were furious at the e-mails.

“These are terrible people and shouldn’t be in office,” Buono said.

And a former PA official piled on, blasting Wildstein, Christie’s longtime pal.

“When you look up the ‘Napoleon complex,’ his picture is there. He had it to the N-th degree,” the employee said about Wildstein. “With a word he could change your whole future. It seemed Baroni was the nice guy – the face of the organization – and Wildstein was back there doing the dirty work without worrying about the repercussions of his decisions. He felt he had free reign and the ultimate protection of governor’s office.”

“Pat Foye’s life just got easier,” the official said, referring to the PA chief. “He can go about his business without worrying what shenanigans Wildstein is up to now.”