Chris Christie's BIG Tell

 

Chris Christie at his press conference: bowed and broken?

Twice during Chris Christie's poor-poor-pitiful-me press conference he did something very, very revealing: He made clear that his chief-of-staff Kevin O'Dowd was above suspicion. Christie didn't say that O'Dowd was innocent, he simply said that his senior staff had to report to O'Dowd or Christie's chief counsel if there was anything said senior staff had to tell the governor that they maybe ought to have told him before. In a second version of this episode, Christie included himself, making him a third member of the above-suspicion troika.

Christie's deputy chief-of-staff Bridget Anne Kelly was not above suspicion, she was beyond the pale, and the axe fell.

Why then was her immediate superior, Kevin O'Dowd, above suspicion? Is he obviously out of the loop? No. But he is Chris Christie's nominee for New Jersey attorney general. His confirmation hearing is next week.

Kevin O'Dowd, second from left and just in front of sacked deputy Bridget
Anne Kelly, is completely innocent. How do we know that, and when did we
know it? When Chris Christie implied it, at least twice in his press
conference. But that doesn't make it so.

If Kevin O'Dowd becomes attorney general of New Jersey, he might be head of future investigations into this bridge fiasco. His confirmation hearing next week will be, or ought to be, a very interesting affair. If he invokes the Fifth, he's finished, and so is Christie. If O'Dowd does testify and says he had absolutely no idea what his deputy was up to, is O'Dowd ready for prime time? Stay tuned, stay very tuned.