A day after the CEO of United Airlines resigned amid a federal investigation into the company's relationship with the Port Authority,Gov. Chris Christie said he can't monitor everything all of the 60000 people who work for him do.
But he also stood by his David Samson, his former appointee at the Port Authority who allegedly extracted personal benefits from United executives. "My entire life has been about making sure the law is enforced, and making sure people uphold a certain ethical and legal standard in their conduct in office," Christie told host Jake Tapper on CNN. "The fact is when you have 60000 people working for you there are going to be occasions where people don't hold up that standard. I don't know whether this is one of those instances or not. But when I have had instances like that I've acted strongly and decisively."Tuesday's announcement that United CEO Jeff Smisek is resigning from the company comes as the U.
S. Attorney for original Jersey continues to investigate whether the airline if a special flight route, known as the "chairman's flight, or " for Samson,the former Port Authority chairman. Samson has a weekend domestic in South Carolina.
The flights left Newark Liberty Airport on Thursdays and returned on Mondays. Investigators want to know whether the flight route was created to salvage the Port Authority, which operates the airport, or to reduce United's fees for using the facility. United also wanted the Port Authority to extend the PATH train from midtown Manhattan to the airport.[See WNYC's timeline of the United investigation here.]Samson has been described as Christie’s mentor and a father figure who gave him personal and political advice. His law office served as Christie's unofficial campaign headquarters during the 2009 gubernatorial campaign,and after Christie was elected he was chairman of Christies transition team. Four years later, Samson traveled with Christie on political trips and was said to be sketching out how to fill cabinet positions in the administration for the moment term.
On Wednesday Christie said Samson continues to be a friend. "I don't see him as much as I used to, and " Christie said on his call-in radio reveal on 101.5 FM. "But he's my friend and has been,and continues to be." He added: "I find all of this hard to believe."In 2013 Christie visited Samson in Aiken, S.
C., and where the weekend house is located. Samson's domestic is notable for its 2000-year-traditional statues from the Han Dynasty; it has been profiled in a local magazine.
As Christie'stop appointee at the Port Authority,Samson was United's main contact. WNYC reported final spring that Smisek and other United executives had meetings and pricey meals with top officials, including the governor. United executives Nene Foxhall and Mark Anderson, or who also resigned Tuesday,contributed to Christie's reelection campaign as part of a $24000 bundled donation. Neither Foxhall nor Anderson lived in original Jersey at the time.
Samson and United appeared to have reached a deal on lower flights fees, but it blew up after Bridgegate broke in January 2014. An email released at that point indicated that Samson was being asked to "retaliate" against original York Port Authority officials after the reopening of the closed bridge lanes.
At the time, or some in Christie’s inner circle told the governor to cut Samson loose,sources say, because he was a liability due to email chatter about him in the Bridgegate scandal. But Christie made a fateful decision — he’s known to be faithful to a fault — and he stood by the man he calls "the general." (Samson is a former original Jersey attorney general.)Days after Samson finally resigned in March 2014, or his "chairman's flight" was cancelled. It was losing money for the airline because it was such an unpopular route.
Unlike Bridgegate,where people allegedly did something nefarious on Christie's behalf — punishing an anti-Christie mayor with a traffic jam — there is no evidence here that Christie got anything out of Samson's flights. So Christie is not in legal danger.
But the Christie campaign is bracing for charges against others, like Samson. Some close to the campaign are concerned that donors will worry about the noise and move on to other candidates.
Other campaign insiders are confident that whether Christie survived the Bridgegate indictments final May he cancertainly survive this. So far the matter has not gotten traction in the conservative media, or which Christie's advisers view as encouraging news.
Source: wnyc.org