Hello, again. Im martha raddatz, great to have you with us. Two days after new jersey governor Chris Christies marathon press conference, the bridgegate scandal is swirling this morning. New jersey democrats are pushing to expand their inquiry beyond just the federal investigation. What happens now and how will it impact his president ial prospects . Were covering every angle. Lets get started with the latest developments from new jersey. Jim avila is there. Jim . Reporter good morning, martha. During the two hour News Conference he answered every question, except the critical one, how can this happen . Dangerously leaving that to his critics, the press and federal prosecutors. This is not the bombastic Chris Christie america knows so well, meekly walking down the steps on a humiliating apology tour. But so far, and the investigations have just begun, nothing in the more than 2,000 pages of documents posted by his political enemies have found the lie in this blanket denial. I had no knowledge or involvement in this issue, its planning or execution. Reporter what the documents do show is his aids and appointees were monitoring the traffic disaster they had created with a smokinggun email, time for traffic problems in ft lee. And christie allies had been warned of the congestion and Emergency Services had been seriously hampered. People protecting the public impaired public safety. Reporter the new documents show the pleas were ignored for four days, with christies press apparatus stone walling, and only with the new york sidestepped in were lanes reopened. Saying we have to fix this fiasco. And i will get to the bottom of this abusive decision. And hes hoping the prompt dismissal of his chief of staff bridgeet anne kelly and his political guru bill stepian, can reverse the impression that his brash style encouraged political vengeance. I am who i am, but i am not a bully. Reporter this week governor christie will attempt to change the subject with the state of the state address on tuesday. And then later in the week, goes to florida to fundraise for other republicans, leaving behind all those state legislators to whisper about impeachment, and the federal prosecutors to ponder charges. Martha. Lot to ponder. And now the former mayor of new york and a friend of christie, Rudy Giuliani is here. Mayor giuliani, thanks for joining us. Thank you, martha. Go back to september. Four days, thousands of residents stuck on the bridge. Chris christie is the chief executive of the state. I cant imagine you as new york mayor not saying what the heck is going on over there. Forget that traffic study. And yet Chris Christie didnt do that. Thats always simplistic after this happens, how could it happen, how could you not have known . How did president obama not know about the irs targeting right wing groups . Massive numbers of right wing groups but this is traffic, this affects everybody. This seems very different. Well, that affects a lot of people. And the reality is, things go wrong in an administration. And frankly, you know, he was in campaignmode at the time. During campaignmode you miss a lot of things. Youre not paying as much attention. We see that with benghazi. Plenty of examples, every administration, every president , mayor, governor, something goes wrong below them and then the press ask, gosh, how do they not know . How did they not realize . The reality is, he says he didnt realize. He says he didnt know. I think its pretty darn credible. He wouldnt make this blanket denial unless its not true. But mr. Mayor, were talking about two different things. Youre talking about him saying he didnt know there was any scandal involved in this. He had to know there was all that traffic. Well, yeah, im saying, you miss things. Things happen in an administration, things happen when youre running for reelection. After the fact is seems like how didnt they know . But the reality is you miss a lot of things when youre running a government thats as complicated as new jersey, new york or the United States. This has happened to many president s, governors, mayors, the present president three or four times where he said i didnt know. And the press says how could he not have noun . Lets talk about the culture of that office. Obviously hes dismissed his aid bridget anne kelly, and bill stepien. What about the culture of the office . What does that say about Chris Christie that they could do Something Like that . But this is what happens in political operations. I mean, people get wrong messages. It happens all the time. It happened, again, i go back to the irs scandal. The people in the irs, president obama wanted them to do this. President obama didnt want them to do this. But they got the sense because of that culture that they were supposed to target right wing groups. It was totally wrong. I think it was totally wrong for these people to have interpreted Chris Christie this way. Hes handled it the best way you can handle it. Held a press conference, flatly denied it. If its not true, hes put his political career completely at risk. Turns out theres evidence he knew about it, hes taken the risk that his political career is over. I dont think he would do that if theres any suggestion he knew about this. Do you think this goes away for Chris Christie . Have you talked to him . Yes, i think it goes away. Again, it depends on what happens. What facts come out. The other thing thats very impressive to me was, i think when this first came up, he wouldnt have made a joke had he had any knowledge. What when a politician is obfuscating, theyre going to get very careful. And during the press conference, theyre going to be careful with words like i couldnt remember, im not sure, possibly, maybe. This was very, very definitive. So im pretty sure that this is going to go away. Its going to take awhile. More inquiries. But ultimately his governorship will be the thing that gets evaluated. It wont be a plus, but not fatal. Thank you very much, mayor giuliani. And lets break it down. Nightline coanchor dan abrams joins us. The investigations, how broad can they be and can they go after any of Chris Christies emails . We havent seen any of his emails in all of this. I think theyre going to get all emails relating to the closure of those lanes on the bridge. From Chris Christie or anyone in the office. Chris christie says there are no emails that are relevant to that, we will see. The federal investigation, hes not as concerned about a possible federal crime. I dont see any possible federal crimes here. But what he is concerned about, or should be concerned about is the investigation itself. The fact its a legislative investigation. Theres a federal criminal investigation. And the question will be what do they find in connection with that that could have political fallout. Meaning do they find any correspondence, or witnesses Say Something that contradicts what christie said in the press conference . That would be my concern if i were him rather than true legal. Its the legal investigation that could lead to political fallout. And i think this could go on for a while, right . It could go on many, many months. The problem with these types of investigations is they take on a life of their own. You investigate one thing, and digging in, and lo and behold, you find something else. And wait a second, yes, we were investigating the lane closures to start with. Look at the road we are going down here. And then they move on to a different investigation. Those are the sorts of concerns you have to have if youre Chris Christie or his aids. Could be a long couple of months. Thanks, dan. Now perhaps the biggest question, how will this impact Chris Christies chances if he decides to run for president . Hes one of the gops biggest stars who grabbed the National Spotlight not only with his blowout reelection win in a blue state, but with his incredibly unique style. Heres jonathan karl. Reporter Chris Christie is the most intriguing and colorful person in politics today. A hardcharging republican who loves Bruce Springsteen and picks fights with teachers unions. Telling people how it is get the hell off the beach and get out. Reporter and occasionally telling off a constituent. Your rear ends going to get thrown in jail, idiot. Reporter and on reporters stay on topic. Are you stupid . Reporter its a trademark. Something he jokes about. Stop saying things i already said. Okay. Reporter when he went to the reagan library, they begged him to run for president. I really implore you as a citizen of this country, to please, sir, to reconsider. Go home and really think about it. Reporter he was the keynote speaker at the republican convention. And yet, hes also Barack Obamas favorite republican. Who could forget when they played carnival games together on the jersey shore board walk . Christie was first asked about the George Washington bridge allegations last month. His bombast was on display. I was the guy working the cones. You really are not serious with that question. Reporter when the facts came out, a different christie. One we hadnt seen before. I am sad to report to the people of new jersey that we fell short. Reporter contrite for the most part, apologetic, avoiding the kind of indignant denial that has backfired in scandals ranging from bill clintons i did not have sexual relations with that woman. Reporter to lance armstrong. I have never dope ed. Thats crazy. I would never do that. Reporter and Anthony Weiner this is a twitter hoax. A prank that was done. I am a victim. Reporter and while others avoided questions, christie answered and answered for nearly two hours. And john joins us now, and also here to talk about how governor christie performed in the press conference and what he should do now, the super star crisis manager, the inspiration for olivia pope character on the hit show scandal, judy smith. Welcome to you both. Thank you. The one word ive heard in the last couple of days, not the first day, is the word coverup. Nothing to show that Chris Christie did that, but lots of talk about staff and others doing that. How does it get beyond that . I think he did a good first step. The press conference, he did a great job. He set the message narrative at the top. He apologized, he took responsibility, he made some swift actions. And i like the fact he was able to make sure that he apologized to the mayor and he did all of those things in one day. Now what he does is he focuses on governing. He was very strong in pointing out during the press conference, i think, that this is not the way that he governs. This is an isolated incident. So constituents, please, judge me on the totality of the circumstances. John karl, youre watching this, you have covered a lot of scandals, and some of them havent gone so well in the end. So you look at this, listen to what judy says, whats your take . First of all, we have had scandals that are more salacious. We have people using state power to enrich themselves, enrich their friends. Its the first time ive covered a scandal with the use of state power to make people miserable. Thats what i was trying and comes down to the underlying facts. Right . This was a masterful performance at the press conference, but if theres anything that ties christie to this decision or shows he knew about it early, we heard from Rudy Giuliani himself that hes done if he knew about. I want to go to who he is, the man he is and the bully image. Play something from the press conference. Well get your reaction. Okay. This reveals youre a political bully, that your style is payback. Are you . I am who i am, but i am not a bully. Not a bully. Now you can call it aggressive, you can call it assertive, people clearly have liked that in the past. So but does is it an asset and now becomes a liability . I think its an asset. The reason why i say first of all in the particular clip, i would have not used the word bully. It was repeating the negative and felt too on the nose for me. I do think that his reputation is based on that straightshooter, speak what im thinking, tell it what i feel. And those things have helped him. I think in particular in crisis situations where you are trying to bounce back, and as we talked about earlier, moving beyond the crisis, the thing that really helps is whether you have good will and a reputation. And i think with him, those two things are going to be helpful to him in trying to push past that. Because he does have a reputation of integrity and honesty. But you never repeat the negative. No, you dont. I am not a witch. Thats exactly right. I didnt kill my wife, i didnt beat my wife. And the next day you saw a lot of the headlines say i am not a bully. Over and over again. No, absolutely. So both of you, quickly, where will this be in six months and how would you say he should handle this in six months . Stop answering questions in six months and hope this goes away . I think he should stop answering questions. We have to see what the investigation reveals. And he has to move past it. As long as theres nothing that contradicts what he said in the press conference. Hopefully theres no six months . The underlying facts are more important than the communication strategy. Did he know . The big question i have, what about bridget anne kelly, the staffer he threw under the bus. He called her an idiot, stupid. Hes going to talk. What will she say . Ask your advice. The one thing i will say, the thing so different about the scandal is its traffic. What people dont think about their commute every single day. Its different in i had sex with another woman. We care about how long it takes us to get to work. Should she talk, not talk if shes your client . Shes going to have to talk at some point. And Chris Christie is not your client. Hes not. Thanks to you both. Time for the roundtable. But first Chris Christies troubles were easy pickings for late night comics. One thing he said did seem a little bit fishy to me. I was blindsided yesterday morning. I was done with my workout. He could have said he was on his roof putting ribbons on unicorns. Would be more believable. Some they this could ruin his chances of being elected president in 2016. While Hillary Clinton said party clearly somebody is getting thrown under the bus here. Fortunately for them the bus isnt moving, its stuck in terrible, terrible traffic. Okay, the roundtable is now ready to go. Former white house Senior Adviser and abc contributor david plouffe, Illinois Republican congressman, adam kinzinger, matthew dowd and democratic strategist donna brazile. Welcome to you all. Matthew, i want to start with you if you can stop laughing. Lets talk about the way the republicans approach this. We have heard, from lindsey graham, the drudge report, rush limbaugh. I want to read from the Washington Post the coming gop campaign is likely to be neither tidy or predictable. A power struggle is underway between the establishment and the insurgent wings, meaning the Business Elite and the poplist tea party factions. What do you see as the fallout for the republicans from Chris Christie . What happens . Thats why the importance has been raised so much, because this is uncharted territory for republicans. They normally are lined up behind a dominant candidate that has the money, is going to be the nominee. Its been that way for 50, 60, 70 years. Now in a nominating process that the republicans are faced with without a leading candidate. But the only preseason favorite in all of this was Chris Christie. The preseason favorite that could bridge the divide, work in the opposing parts of the republican party, and attract moderates. And they were so but were in this uncharted territory. He was the lighthouse that everybody could go to a safe hasher harbor to. Thats a question mark now. And right now among republicans, there is a search. They have a tremendous opportunity, martha. This is an election where republicans, if you look at historical patterns should win the presidency in 2016. If you look at historical patterns. But they dont have a candidate and a message that matches up well right now. One that was just injured yes. What do democrats think . Well, first of all, he was winning the invisible primary because there was no one else visible. Chris christie sort of popped on the National Stage after hurricane sandy. He was the fixit governor who didnt mind embracing president obama. He was taking care of the people. Telling teachers to sit down, shut up, and this controversy erupts. His brand is tarnished. Hes in a nowin position. And the republicans have to go back to the drawing board to find someone like him to run in 2016. Heres why, he won in a landslide in a blue state, picked up women, picked up half the hispanic vote, onethird of the democratic vote. He was raising money, and now people will continue to raise questions as to whether or not he knew. And if i mean, i still cant believe that some woman on his staff, a deputy chief of staff or some man or whoever was the only person involved in shutting down a huge bridge. This is not the Mississippi River bridge, this is the George Washington bridge. And donna, that take us to the staff. You worked in the white house for many, many years, i assume youre trying to please your boss. I assume youre trying to read your bosss mind. And you look at Chris Christie saying, i cant believe it happened. I just cant believe it happened. I think that and i think his performance this week shows some of the great appeal he has. He got away with this, i have 60,000 people working with me. These people are close to him, the campaign manager, deputy chief of staff. Every decision you made, you did with the thought of what would my boss think about this. Ran anything important by him now. He