last night, the executive director of the port authority ordered the port authority s police chief to investigate the role of some of their own officers in the ft. lee lane closures after two eye-opening reports broke this weekend. one from the bergen record about police officers on the ground during the traffic in ft. lee, telling frustrated motorists to complain to the mayor sokolich. and the other from our own steve kornacki about an acquaintance of the governor who was at the scene. meet lieutenant thomas chip michaelses, a police officer at the port authority. chip was on duty at the george washington bridge on september 9th, 2013. that would be the first day of traffic in ft. lee. but september 9th wasn t a normal day at work for chip, because he had a meeting with a high-ranking official at the port authority, according to documents submitted to the new jersey assembly. you may recognize him. david wildstein,
weekend, three known christie associates knew about the traffic in ft. lee as it was happening. this weekend, msnbc s steve kornacki uncovered a fourth. the question is now, how many more peep are there out there? joining me now, msnbc s resident new jersey expert, steve kornacki, the host of up, which airs weekends at 8:00 a.m. eastern. great reporting, steve. thanks. detective steve kornacki. what s the significance of this to you? it s someone who had an eyewitness account of the first day, of the first minutes of the opening minutes of this. and who david wildstein apparently chooses to be the person to go yeah, however that came about. david wildstein, it s not just that he s there and seeing this, he s riding around with david wildstein and giving his impressions and probably getting david wildsteins first impressions about, as you see in those texts, what a mess is being created here. he texted at one point that he has some idea of how he can make this better.
the port authority. chip was on duty at the george washington bridge on september 9th, 2013. that would be the first day of traffic in ft. lee. but september 9th wasn t just a normal day at work for chip because he had a meeting with a high-ranking official at the port authority, according to documents submitted to the new jersey assembly. you may recognize him. david wildstein. w-i-l-d-s-t-e-i-n. yes, according to documents submitted by david wildstein, himself, on september 9th, chip michaels appeared to be texting the former port authority appointee david wildstein, it s expletive up here. later the two met in person. michaels took david wildstein for a ridearound to survey the impact on traffic. in the coming days, documents indicate that chip texted wildstein with updates on the traffic. a message on september 10th reads local ft. lee traffic disaster. and chip michaels and david
about the traffic in ft. lee at the time, right? right. you reported that. that has since been denied. it seems by both parties. what is the deal with that? so governor christie firmly denied it. he also made a joke about it at the time, saying i asked governor cuomo, did we talk about this, and he said no. so he said, i don t remember any conversation about this. governor cuomo has since danced around the issue a little bit more. he s been a bit more evasive about it. he said they talked about the airports, but not the george w. bridge issue. he also does not seem comfortable when he s asked questions about this call, so clearly there s more questions to be asked. that to me is why it seems to me that the port authority ordering this investigation, patrick foy, in response largely to your reporting, steve. it always seems to me if andrew cuomo wants to destroy chris christie, he may be able to. we know the new york side across the river is holding some cards
w-i-l-d-s-t-e-i-n. yes, according to documents submitted by david wildstein himself, on september 9th, chip michaels appeared to be texting the former port authority david wildstein, it s expletive up here. later, the two met in person. michaels took david wildstein for a ridearound to survey the impact on traffic. in the coming days, documents indicate that chip texted wildstein with updates on the traffic, a message on september 10th reads, local ft. lee traffic disaster, and chip michaels and david wildstein had more in common than an interest in traffic. they both hail from livington, new jersey, where they attended high school with none other than chris christie. in more recent years, michaels coached christie s kids hockey team. and in a 2010 profile for the star ledger, michaels joked about seeing his childhood friend ascend to governor of his state. we break his chops a little bit, just saying, you re the