Former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani says "it's pretty darn credible" that New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie was unaware his aides had purposely shut down most lanes of the George Washington Bridge as a form of political retaliation.
After all, Christie was in the middle of his re-election bid,
Giuliani said Sunday on ABC's "This Week," and during "campaign mode" you miss a lot of things. He compared Christie's situation to that of President Barack Obama, who initially denied terrorism was involved in the Benghazi attacks.
"This is what happens in political operations. People get wrong messages," Giuliani said. "People in the IRS thought President Obama wanted them to do this. President Obama didn't want them to do this," he said of the IRS scandal in which conservative and tea party groups were targeted for added scrutiny.
In Christie's case, aides ordered lane shutdowns for what most news organizations are reporting as political payback to Fort Lee, N.J., Mayor Mark Sokolich for not endorsing his re-election. MSNBC's Rachel Maddow has theorized it was over a fight on
state Supreme Court judicial nominees.
Either way, Giuliani said he believes the issue will "just go away" because Christie addressed it fully in an exhaustive press conference on Thursday.
That is, unless facts come out to implicate the governor.
"If it turns out there's some evidence that he knew about it, he's taken the complete risk that his political career is over," Giuliani said.
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