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rocktivity

(44,883 posts)
5. Excerpts from Wildstein's Statement to the Judge
Sun Jul 23, 2017, 05:48 PM
Jul 2017

Last edited Thu Apr 22, 2021, 01:36 PM - Edit history (16)

Cue the DU official "Cry Me A River" String Quartet!



There should be no doubt that I deeply regret my actions at the George Washington Bridge...It served no sensible purpose other than a plan to punish one mayor...It was a callous decision...It was stupid, and it was wrong. I violated the law, and I profoundly regret it...

I have spent the past three and a half years trying to make amends...Before any cooperation agreement was in place, I met with Assistant United States Attorneys and the FBI...(although) admitting my guilt and accepting responsibility for my actions...does not lessen the seriousness of what I have done...

What he "did" was come up with idea and suggest it to Christie -- Wildstein's only "callous decision" was implementing Bridge(t)-Gate once he received Christie's approval (via Kelly). It isn't as though he's the one who gave the order to carry it out -- right?


I take full responsibility for what I did, and hope that someday, others will too...I admit to being a willing participant in a culture that was, upon reflection, disgusting...I was supervised by a group of former federal prosecutors and experienced public servants who encouraged a behavior that I deeply regret -- and fully understand was illegal...

NOW we're getting somewhere!


Bill Baroni and Bridget Kelly were my friends, and my testimony at their trial was an agonizing moment in my life...Each of us put our faith and trust in a man who neither earned nor deserved it...

But each of them saw Governor Soprano as their shortcut to the big time. And maybe it wouldn't have been as agonizing if it had been clear which of them reported to who.


I willingly drank the Kool-Aid of a man I had known since I was fifteen...I thoughtlessly followed his hubris, and must now accept the consequences...I don’t expect everyone to forgive me...It will define the remainder of my life...

Which brings us to the bottom line: The remainder of Wildstein's life will be defined as that of a 55-year-old fifteen-year-old whose entire being was consumed by playing cool kid wannabe Richie Cunningham to Christie's Fonzie. But just as Richie was allowed only to allowed to subsist on the fumes of coolness -- to merely orbit around Fonzie's outer circles -- Wildstein was too dazzled to realize that it simply wouldn't be in Christie's best interests to give him a ticket out of Nerd-istan. And don't forget that Fonzie ended up water ski jumping over a shark while wearing his trademark black leather motorcycle jacket.

(link to entire statement)




rocktivity
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