NJDSC on Christie's House Judiciary testimony

by: Rosi Efthim

Thu Jun 25, 2009 at 08:40:36 PM EDT

Democratic State Chairman Joseph Cryan today called into question statements made by Conservative Right Wing gubernatorial candidate Chris Christie during his testimony today before Congress.

Cryan: Christie cannot keep his facts straight. In his testimony he said things that directly contradicted his previous statements and e-mails.  From the time he sat down until the time he abruptly left in the middle of questioning, Christie continues to be confused by the facts.

It is very telling that Christie got up and walked out as he began to be questioned about the multi-million dollar no-bid contract given to the former U.S. Attorney that refused to charge his brother.  If Christie tried to answer for all the other multi-million dollar no-bid contracts he gave out to friends he would have been testifying until Election Day and none of his statements would have matched.  It is clear that Christie was either not telling the truth before, or he was not telling the truth today.  One of those scenarios could be considered a violation of the law.

Make the jump for Christie's false claims, then the truth, point-by-point.

Christie told the Star-Ledger two years ago that he was not involved in setting Ashcroft's fee and that Zimmer didn't object to the compensation. "Christie said he was not involved in setting Ashcroft's fee, but that no one had objected to the compensation. He said prosecutors did not impose fines on Zimmer and the other implant makers because they knew the companies would be paying substantial monitoring fees." [11/20/07]

The Fact:

Zimmer's attorney had told Christie's office he was "shocked" by Ashcroft's proposed $52 million contract. "I have to tell you that I was shocked by the proposed fee agreement," Frederick Robinson, an attorney for Zimmer, wrote to Christie's First Assistant U.S. Attorney Michele Brown on Oct. 15, 2007. Robinson said Ashcroft's firm delivered the fee agreement on a Friday evening and demanded in be in place by Tuesday. [Frederick Robinson email to Michele Brown Brown, 10/15/07]

The False Claim:

Christie told Congress no "impasse" over fees occurred between the companies he awarded deferred prosecution agreements and the federal monitors appointed. "The [U.S. Attorney's] Office was not involved in the fee negotiations. Intervention by the Office would only occur if the company and the monitor were at a genuine impasse in fee negotiations. No such impasse occurred." [Prepared statement by Christopher J. Christie, Former United States Attorney, District of New Jersey, June 25, 2009]

The Fact:

Zimmer's defense attorney wrote an email directly to Christie on Oct. 17, 2007, informing him that an "impasse" had occurred in fee negotiations between Ashcroft's firm and Zimmer. "Chris, As you know, Zimmer has been in discussion with the Ashcroft Consulting Group ("ACG") regarding certain provisions of the Monitor Agreement, most of which concern the financial arrangements between the parties. Although everyone has approached these negotiations in the utmost good faith, it appears that the parties have reached an impasse on certain key issues." [Frederick Robinson email to Christopher Christie, 10/17/07]

The False Claim:

Christie said the U.S. Attorney and SEC "found" his brother committed no wrongdoing.

The Fact:

Todd Christie reached an individual settlement with the SEC in which the SEC found that he broke stock exchange rules. "During the Relevant Period, in IBM and AOL, Christie executed hundreds of trades that constituted interpositioning, which generated thousands of dollars in profit for his firm's proprietary account at the expense of customer orders, and hundreds of trades that constituted trading ahead, which generated thousands of dollars in customer harm...As a result of the conduct described above, Christie violated the aforementioned NYSE rules and violated Section 11(b) of the Exchange Act and Rule 11b-1 thereunder" [Todd Christie SEC settlement, pages 3 and 6, 10/15/2008]

The law on making false statements to Congress:

TITLE 18 > PART I > CHAPTER 47 > § 1001
§ 1001. Statements or entries generally (a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, whoever, in any matter within the jurisdiction of the executive, legislative, or judicial branch of the Government of the United States, knowingly and willfully- (1) falsifies, conceals, or covers up by any trick, scheme, or device a material fact; (2) makes any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or representation; or (3) makes or uses any false writing or document knowing the same to contain any materially false, fictitious, or fraudulent statement or entry; shall be fined under this title, imprisoned not more than 5 years or, if the offense involves international or domestic terrorism (as defined in section 2331), imprisoned not more than 8 years, or both. If the matter relates to an offense under chapter 109A, 109B, 110, or 117, or section 1591, then the term of imprisonment imposed under this section shall be not more than 8 years.... (c) With respect to any matter within the jurisdiction of the legislative branch, subsection (a) shall apply only to:....(2) any investigation or review, conducted pursuant to the authority of any committee, subcommittee, commission or office of the Congress, consistent with applicable rules of the House or Senate.