Chris Christie subpoenaed before even taking office

by: Jason Springer

Tue Nov 24, 2009 at 09:57:44 PM EST

If you had Chris Christie's first hiccup as Governor occurring before he even takes office in the pool, you win:

A subpoena has been issued for Gov.-elect Chris Christie to appear next month at the federal trial of North Bergen Internet radio host and blogger Hal Turner.
Michael Orozco, Turner's lawyer, said in an affadavit supporting the subpoena, that Christie, as the U.S. Attorney, knew that Turner was working with the FBI, Christie gave legal advice to the FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force regarding Turner, and issued a "Blanket Letter of Declination," refusing to prosecute Turner.

Christie said he hadn't gotten the subpoena yet, but might not be able to testify:

"Certainly any of the advice I gave as U.S. Attorney with regards to prosecutions, I'm not going to talk about publicly," he said.
Christie said it would be hard to testify because of the internal deliberations and other legal issues that go into the decision-making process.
"It's very difficult for a U.S. Attorney to testify," he said. "We'll see what happens during the road."

Blue Jersey reader rustycat pointed us to this news about the Christie/Turner situation in the New Haven Register over the weekend:

He said they include pay sheets showing the FBI budgeted $100,000 or more a year for Turner as part of its Joint Terrorism Task Force, as well as correspondence between then-U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Christopher Christie and the FBI detailing parameters of the project, dubbed "Vahalla."
Christie was elected governor of New Jersey this month; he takes office Jan. 19.
Randall Sanborne, spokesman for the U.S. attorney's office for the northern district of Illinois, would not comment Thursday on Vahalla, Christie's alleged memos or any aspect of the Turner case.

So the then US attorney's correspondence about someone that has been charged with threatening federal judges in Chicago, is accused of inciting violence against two legislators in Connecticut and who the NY post says was investigated by the Secret Service for talking about assassinating President Obama has now become an issue for the defense

It appears that a big part of Turner's defense is going to be that he had our new Governor's approval. And our new Governor doesn't seem very excited about discussing his role. The subpoena to testify for the defense on Dec 1.

Jason Springer :: Chris Christie subpoenaed before even taking office

Tags: Chris Christie, Hal Turner, subpoena, (All Tags)

Print Friendly View

Send As Email

Chris Christie subpoenaed before even taking office | 3 comments

hate blogger (0.00 / 0)

jailed without bail, and right wing extremist. This isn't like turning the other cheek on republicans - this is tacit approval of threats against the lives of Democrats.

I'm so proud.

Scott Garrett - on the wrong side of, well, everything.

by: Adam L @ Wed Nov 25, 2009 at 03:01:22 AM UTC

by: you @ soon

To post this comment click here:

Otherwise click cancel.

I'm confused (0.00 / 0)

Was there "corresponding" (ie. direct communication) between Christie and Turner as your post states? If so Turner would already be in possession of that correspondence. If there was direct correspondence between Christie and Turner then it certainly poses a major problem for Christie.

However, if Christie was sending memos to the FBI officials who were working with Turner as an informant then I really don't see what the problem is. If Turner was an FBI informant, and can prove that, then the problem is with the FBI and how they use informants in terrorism cases. To single out Christie and make him the scapegoat, while ignoring all the other US Attorneys and FBI agents who regularly use unsavory characters like Turner as informants in anti-terrorism cases, seems to be a bit unfair.

In fairness we should wait and see how this plays out. My guess is the charges ultimately may be dropped, modified, or even a plea bargain. I doubt this will ever get to trial but the issue as to how the FBI uses informants in anti-terrorism cases is a legitimate one that cuts across party lines and needs to be examined without becoming used as a political football.

BTW I met Hal Turner a few years ago when he was campaign manager for Murray Sabrin, the Libertarian candidate for Governor in 1997. Turner was involved in rightwing GOP politics for a long time and ran for Congress himself in a GOP primary some years ago.
He was a low-life when I met him and he apparently hasn't changed.

http://christiegonewild.blogsp...

by: ken bank @ Wed Nov 25, 2009 at 04:24:03 AM UTC

by: you @ soon

To post this comment click here:

Otherwise click cancel.

I clarified (0.00 / 0)

I don't know that there was direct communication and shouldn't have phrased it that way. But I wasn't trying to single out Christie, the defense is doing that because of his involvement. His memos and advice are the only one being discussed as of now. But we should how it plays out.

by: Jason Springer @ Wed Nov 25, 2009 at 12:23:11 PM UTC

[ Parent ]