Governor Christie Poised for GOP Presidential Nomination
Governor Chris Christie seems to have shaken off the Bridgegate scandal and is on track to rebuild his popularity as a favorite for the 2016 GOP presidential nomination.
The Washington Post has suggested that Governor Christie may be poised to take the lead in the GOP’s 2016 nomination after a news report indicated that he was not implicated in the ongoing federal investigations surrounding the George Washington Bridge lane closures of last year.
WNBC, the NBC affiliate in New York, was the first to break the story and claimed that an official source close to the investigations revealed that the final report does not implicate Governor Christie in the scandal.
This has caused a number of influential voices in republican circles to express their jubilation at the apparent exoneration of Governor Christie.
Not the least among these is Donald Trump who told the Washington Post that the report was good news for both Christie and Republican donors.
“It’s great news for Chris politically,” said real-estate mogul Donald Trump in a phone interview on Friday. “It goes a long way and pretty much clears up the problem he had, which was a very big problem. A lot of Republican donors are very happy today.”
The Inquisitr has since reported that the NBC report was incorrect and that Governor Christie is still under investigations by U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman who is leading the probe into the Bridgegate incident.
The Wall Street Journal has also debunked the news report from NBC and quoted a spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman as saying, “the nine month investigation is very much ongoing.”
In the meantime Governor Christie has been active on the fundraising circuit. As chairman of the Republican Governors Association he has been busy travelling the country and raising money for GOP candidates. Christie’s role as chairman is an important one as it has served as a launching pad for the presidential bib for former Massachusetts governor, Mitt Romney. It seems Governor Christie is intent on using a similar strategy if and when he decides to run for President in 2016.
As Chris Christie shakes off the Bridgegate ghost, another scandal is emerging that will no doubt cast a shadow on his presidential bid.
The International Business Times, on Monday, reported that, Robert Grady, Governor Christie’s appointee to the post of Chairman of the New Jersey pension system has been investing funds from the pension scheme in a private equity firm in which his company, Cheyenne Capital, has interest.
[Image Credit: Associated Press]
