The firm that performed an in-house review of New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie’s possible involvement in the George Washington Bridge scandal donated $10,000 to the Republican Governor’s Association, which Mr. Christie heads, nine days before its lawyers issued a report that cleared the governor, according to a new report.
The Record in northern New Jersey reports that Tuesday’s donation disclosures — the first since Mr. Christie took over at the RGA this year — include a hedge fund billionaire, pharmaceutical companies and Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher, the firm that Mr. Christie hired to look into his office’s involvement in the toll-lane closures that backed up traffic in Fort Lee, N.J., for four days last September.
Mr. Christie has said he had no knowledge of his top aides’ involvement in closing the lanes, perhaps as political payback during an election year, although critics have called the law firm’s review a “whitewash.”
The Gibson firm regularly gives to the RGA, according to the Record, and the disclosures came hours after Mr. Christie used a town-hall style event to argue political donors should be able to give unlimited amounts of money, coupled with district disclosure laws.
• Tom Howell Jr. can be reached at thowell@washingtontimes.com.
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