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The Lead With Jake Tapper-20140113-21:09:00

we were ready to welcome them as families have come to new jersey to build memories on their vacations for generations. >> sir, the obama administration approved the ad campaign, the stronger than the storm campaign. >> yes, again, we're learning about this literally as we go through the news today. was not even aware that was federal money that had come in, that that type of approval, maybe it was required, maybe it wasn't. i don't know what the process would be for such approval. again, i don't know that the governor needed to spend that in order to promote himself and his family. his popularity ratings were obviously very high as you even referenced in the monmouth poll today. but the reality is there's something that has piqued the interest of the federal authorities to dig further here and go beyond just an inquiry and to look at what they are considering a full-blown investigation. >> and of course former democratic governor jim mcgreevey appeared in some tourism spots in 2004 with his, now, ex-wife and daughter.

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The Lead With Jake Tapper-20140113-21:05:00

helping new jersey get back on its feet after being struck by the worst storm in state history. but aft either initial review of the sandy relief spending the office of the inspector general at the department of housing and urban development has concluded that there is enough evidence to large a full-scale investigation. >> taxpayer dollars that could have been used for sandy relief were used for ads promoting the governor, because he was in them with his family, during an election campaign. >> christie's office questions the timing of the investigation. indeed it couldn't come at a worst time for the scandal-plagued new jersey republican. christie's already facing two probes into whether his staff tied up traffic near the country's busiest bridge to punish a democratic mayer who refused to endorse him. but as bad as the george washington bridge scandal has been for christie, if the investigation finds he improperly spent sandy funds, it could get far worse. tarnishing the signature achievement that has helped propel him toward the white house. now, the hud inspector general's

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The Lead With Jake Tapper-20140113-21:01:00

ones from her own party. who was on that list? the pop culture lead. "wolf of wall street," "12 years a slave," a huge haul at the globes for quote/unquote true stories. how closely do movies like these play with the truth? good afternoon, everyone. welcome to "the lead." we begin with a cnn exclusive. the traffic metaphors come all too easily in midst of the bridge scandal. while many are still rubber necking at the political wreck his close aides apparently created through a petty vendetta, christie's problems are turning into a pileup. okay, enough traffic metaphors. as cnn reported first, the republican is now under a federal investigation into whether he misused hurricane sandy relief funds. specifically on an ad campaign to attract tourists back to the sandy ravaged jersey shore which happened to feature christie,

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The Lead With Jake Tapper-20140113-21:07:00

>> jim geraghty, a conservative writer at the national review, he skeptically called this new probe amazingly convenient timing, the word, the idea that at sandy funding investigation comes right after the bridge scandal. is there anything to that? are democrats sensing weakness and deciding to go after some things they've wondered about for some time or some weakness in the governor's armer? >> this is a federal probe so i'm learning about it much as you are, as being reported in the news today. so i don't believe this is certainly not any orchestrated effort by democrats in the state of new jersey. i also think as i listened to your lead-in with the story that they've been looking at this through hud at the federal level for a period of time as an inquiry and have decided based who on what they saw to take it to a full investigation. >> in "the star ledger" this morning two democratic mayors of beach town, bellemare and point pleasant, expressed support for ads and christie being in them. one of the mayors saying he was the face of sandy relief, it

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The Lead With Jake Tapper-20140113-21:08:00

made sense to make him the face of these ads. what did you think of that? >> i think, look, that's a real question, was he the face of sandy relief or was he the face of sandy relief because of the ads that they ran? there's no doubt that new jersey needed to invest in at thing the public that we were open for business. tourism and our beaches are a $40 billion a year industry for us. it's the backbone of our economy. it's a treasure that's critically important. that money needed to be spent on advertisements to tell the world that new jersey is a vacation and destination place. was it necessary to spend the money to promote the governor? is that why it was done? i assume the investigation will do that, will determine who did the ad, how much was the ad, what was the impact of the ad? did it result in tourism coming to the state? was there a better offer, better promotional piece that would have done something different without the governor's involvement but that would have had an even greater impact on tourism? at the end of the day, we needed to tell people that new jersey was open for business. we were on the road to recovery.

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The Lead With Jake Tapper-20140113-21:00:00

you just have these pilots. of course they're investigating. we learned the pilots, as they investigate, have been grounded. so we have to leave picture because i have to go to jake tapper but hopefully this thing will be just fine. chad, thank you very much. i'm brooke baldwin. "the lead" with jake tapper starts now. >> a whole new lane of trouble is opening up for new jersey governor chris christie. i'm jake tapper. this is "the lead." while his bridge gate scandal remains prime headline bait, governor christie is being hit from a different direction with another investigation. did he misuse hurricane sandy relief money to promote himself? or are democrats smelling blood seeking to chum up the waters? also in politics, the woman pundits love to put up against christie, hillary clinton. a new book claims she kept a list of people she considered benedict arnold's in 2008.

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The Lead With Jake Tapper-20140113-21:03:00

political brand. cnn has learned that federal investigators will examine the state's $25 million tourism marketing campaign. a campaign that was paid for about sandy recovery money. >> the jersey shore is open. >> the word is spreading. >> because we're stronger than the storm. >> you bet we are. >> a campaign that featured christie and his family during an election year. >> instead of working together -- >> democratic congressman frank pallone, a vocal critic, requested the investigation and federal officials tell cnn it's now moving ahead. but pallone says this is not about politics. >> this was money that could have directly been used for san sandy recovery. many of my constituents still haven't gotten the money that is owed then, you know, to rebuild their homes or to put their, you know, to raise their homes or to help. >> pallone says promoting new jersey tourism after the superstorm was a good idea but he has a big question about how much taxpayer money was spent to make those ads.

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The Lead With Jake Tapper-20140113-21:11:00

have a full investigation of his own executive office to see who knew what. really, that's where the legislature is right now. we're reviewing the documents. we're reviewing the e-mails. we know one thing for certain. i think speculation is certainly that the woman would not have thought of this idea of her own, would not have come up with the idea to close the traffic lanes would not have come up with the idea to fabricate a study. the reality is that came from someone else. i think the greatest thing that could happen next is if the governor the whats to get to the root of this, what i have asked for, other members have asked for, is we provide those e-mails with complete transparency, look at who was on those e-mails and who might have known about this prior to. we know clearly there was an abuse of power. we don't know where that a because power is rooted. we don't know how deep it goes. we will only find out through the cooperation and transparency on those e-mails. >> all right, new jersey assembly majority leader luis greenwald, thank you so much for your time, we appreciate it. >> thank you for having me. we have breaking news now on

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