While the New Jersey Legislature and the U.S. attorney's office are already conducting ongoing investigations of Bridgegate, a new report shows that the FBI, too, has begun poking around and asking questions. If Gov. Christie was hoping the Bridgegate story would run out of steam on its own, the appearance of yet another investigative body — and thus yet another potential batch of headlines reporting on new findings — is yet another bump on his increasingly rocky road to the White House in 2016.
Here's the latest news on Christie:
- CNN reports that the FBI has been questioning people connected with Bill Stepien, Christie's former consigliere and campaign manager. Stepien is attempting to use this fact as justification for not cooperating with the Legislature's subpoena. Along with Stepien, CNN reports, the FBI has also been questioning people with ties to former Christie aide Bridget Anne Kelly.
- Along with citing the FBI's involvement, Stepien has also had his lawyer argue that the Legislature's subpoena is unjustified and the product of an overly partisan initiative from New Jersey Democrats. In case you can't tell, Stepien really, really doesn't want to comply with the Legislature's subpoena.
- Despite the FBI now entering the picture, though, Sen. John McCain still says Christie is a viable candidate for the GOP presidential nomination in 2016. "I think he's still a very viable candidate," McCain told Time magazine. "I do believe that obviously he has to get this issue behind him. I think he's handled it quite well. There's always the question in these situations on whether there's new information and that's the caution that I have. But I think the smartest thing he could've done is have a press conference that lasted until he answered every possible question. I thought that was really a wise tactic on his part."
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