NEWARK--As the Bridgegate scandal rapidly spiraled out of control, David Wildstein testified he began telling people in the governor's inner circle the truth.
He told Michael Drewniak, the governor's press spokesman, on Dec. 4, 2013, three months after the lane closures. He then told Charles McKenna, the governor's chief counsel, that the lane reductions had been his idea, Wildstein said on the stand Wednesday, his fourth day of testimony.
Gov. Chris Christie has repeatedly said he didn't learn about the George Washington Bridge lane closure political revenge scheme until the infamous "time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee" email was made public in January 2014. But by the time Wildstein, the admitted mastermind behind the plan, agreed to resign from the Port Authority a month earlier, he said he informed multiple members of Christie's senior staff about the scheme.
Wildstein, a former Port Authority executive, told jurors on Wednesday that he specifically informed Drewniak that the lane closures were an act of political revenge.
He described Drewniak as being "quite upset," telling Wildstein he planned to tell Christie's then-chief of staff, Kevin O'Dowd, what he had learned.
Wildstein, admitting the "stories were out of control," offered to resign.
He said he met with McKenna on Dec. 6.
"What did you tell Mr. McKenna?" he was asked.
"Mr. McKenna asked me if I would be amenable to resigning and I told him that I was," he replied.
"Did you tell Mr. McKenna that the lane reduction had been your idea?"
"Yes, I did," Wildstein said, who did not testify that McKenna was told why the lane closures were put into play, or that it was politically motivated.
Reached by telephone Wednesday night, McKenna said Wildstein "told me he was responsible for the lane reductions as part of a traffic study."
The latest statements came a day after Wildstein testified he spoke in person with Christie's top political consultant, Michael DuHaime, the details about the plot in November 2013 - two months after the September lane closures. Another former top Christie aide, former campaign manager Bill Stephen, was also in the loop, Wildstein testified.
Bill Baroni, then the deputy executive director of the Port Authority, and former Christie aide Bridget Anne Kelly, were both indicted in connection with the politically-motivated scandal, which was aimed at intimidating Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich by flooding his streets with traffic, after he told campaign officials he would not endorse Christie for re-election. The two are on trial in federal court in Newark, charged with conspiracy and fraud.
In his testimony, Wildstein said that after the lane closures ended, he realized he was in trouble when he got a call on his cell phone from a reporter who had been digging into the matter.
A cover story had been issued by the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey -- which operates the bridge -- that the four days of toll lane shutdowns, which began on Sept. 9, 2013, were part of a traffic safety study. The story was a lie. But Wildstein, who had planned the closures, had yet to be directly tied to the incident and admitted the call had spooked him.
"I realized with that phone call that I was now linked to the lane closures with a reporter," he testified. He said he quickly alerted Baroni.
"Jesus. Call Drewniak," Baroni responded.
Christie press secretary Michael Drewniak testifies before the New Jersey Legislative Select Committee on Investigation at the Statehouse on the George Washington Bridge lane closure scandal in May 2014 (Tony Kurdzuk | Star-Ledger file photo)
Wildstein said Drewniak at that point did not know what had sparked the lane shutdowns.
As the story grew, the legislature began an investigation and Baroni agreed to testify on Nov. 25, 2013.
The day before he appeared, he texted a photo to Wildstein of Winston Wolf, the Harvey Keitel character from the movie "Pulp Fiction," whose job it was to clean up the bodies.
It was an inside joke, Wildstein testified. A couple months earlier at a Sept. 11 memorial ceremony at the World Trade Center site, Christie had referred to Wildstein as Mr. Wolf.
"Mr. Baroni was going to Trenton to fix the problem," said Wildstein told assistant U.S. attorney Lee Cortes.
The governor, meanwhile, initially made light of speculation that the lane closures were intended as political retribution.
"I worked the cones. Unbeknownst to anyone, I was working the cones," Christie joked during a Dec. 2 Statehouse news conference.
Two days later, however, Wildstein said he went to Drewniak.
"I told him that the stories were out of control. That it wasn't going away. That I ought to resign and take responsibility. I told him that others in the governor office were involved and approved the plan," he testified. He said he told Drewniak the purpose of the lane closure, and that it was political.
The next day, he said he spoke to McKenna and agreed to resign.
But at a Dec. 19, 2013, statehouse news conference, Christie admonished reporters for pressing him on why Baroni and Wildstein had hired criminal defense lawyers. He called any suggestion that a crime had been committed just a "sensationalized characterization."
"I think, quite frankly, at the end of this, you and your paper will owe an apology to Sen. Baroni and Mr. Wildstein," Christie said, speaking to a reporter from The Wall Street Journal.
An attorney for Drewniak said he had not been in court and was not in a position to comment on the testimony, but said the former press spokesman had been questioned extensively by the legislative committee that investigated the lane closures. "He answered all their questions truthfully and completely and he stands by each of his responses," said Anthony Iacullo of Nutley.
For much of the morning Wednesday, federal prosecutors in the Bridgegate trial focused on the alleged conspiracy to cover up the plot as it began to unravel. They questioned Wildstein about the widening circle of lies that came out of the Port Authority to hide the truth from the press, the public and Democrats who had launched a legislative investigation into what happened at the bridge.
Wildstein, a high-level Republican political appointee to the Port Authority, testified about efforts to get Port Authority Police union officials to say they came up with the fake safety study. Baroni appeared before a legislative committee in November and focused on an admittedly bogus claim that the three toll lanes at the bridge dedicated to local traffic out of Fort Lee was unfair.
When he finally was forced to tell the truth, Wildstein said the governor's staff did not treat him as a pariah.
"My expectation is that I would relax and play some sort of role in advancing Gov. Christie's political future," he testified. "I had been told by others that I was still on the governor's team and still valuable as a member of the team -- that the governor was happy I had stepped up and stood up for the team."
Defense attorneys got their first crack at Wildstein on Wednesday, with Michael Baldassare, who represents Baroni, beginning his cross examination, challenging whether Wildstein had told the whole truth to federal law enforcement officials and his claims of friendship with Baroni.
Ted Sherman may be reached at tsherman@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @TedShermanSL. Facebook: @TedSherman.reporter. Find NJ.com on Facebook.
Matt Arco may be reached at marco@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @MatthewArco or on Facebook. Follow NJ.com Politics on Facebook.