New Jersey Republican governor and likely 2016 presidential candidate Chris Christie had just wrapped up his morning workout on Wednesday when he got a call that plunged him into the biggest scandal of his career. Some of his staffers and his appointees at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey had decided in September to give the Democratic mayor of Fort Lee, N.J., the week from hell — and now the world knew.
Emails from a Christie aide to an official at the Port Authority show they orchestrated a massive four-day traffic jam in Fort Lee all because the borough's mayor, Mark Sokolich, refused to support the governor's reelection bid. Christie has repeatedly denied his staff had any involvement in the scandal, and although he still says he had no idea, the governor has now changed his tone, saying he was misled and is appalled by the behavior.
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That's the gist of what's going on, but below we've broken it down even further.
When Christie ran for reelection last year, everyone knew the democrats were pretty much wasting their time. He was destined to blow them out and did, winning with bipartisan support, a rarity in America's current political scene. But he did have opponents, even if they couldn't threaten his dominion, and that apparently did not sit well with some of the governor's staffers.
Mark Sokolich, a Democrat, is the mayor of Fort Lee, N.J., and he was not a fan of Christie. He refused to endorse the governor's reelection campaign. So, after Christie had established himself as the Garden State's governor for the next four years, his deputy chief of staff, Bridget Anne Kelly, and David Wildstein, a high school buddy and the Port Authority's director of interstate capital projects, decided to give the mayor a little political payback.
“Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee," Kelly emailed, to which Wildstein responded, "Got it." (See the annotated emails in full below.)
For four days, they shut down two lanes of the George Washington Bridge, all for the sake of a supposed "traffic study," causing massive gridlock for millions of commuters, school buses trying to get to class, and emergency vehicles rushing to help people in distress, including a missing toddler.

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The scandal had appeared before, but it burst into public view on Wednesday after the emails went public. Christie had previously denied his staff's involvement and had berated reporters just for mentioning the traffic jam. Now, though, he says his team misled him, and he is appalled by their behavior.
"I come out here today to apologize to the people of New Jersey," Christie said at a press conference Thursday. "I apologize to the people of Fort Lee. And I apologize to the members of the state legislature. I am embarrassed and humiliated by the conduct of some of the people on my team."
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Kelly, who sent the email that appears to have triggered the traffic scandal, was Christie's deputy chief of staff before she was fired on Thursday for her involvement in the scandal. She was appointed in 2010 as Christie's director of legislative relations, managing the administration's relationship with New Jersey's legislature, but she has since moved up the ladder.
She has a degree in political science from Mount St. Mary's University in Maryland, according to the Bergen County Record, and got her first job in government by working for New Jersey Republican Assemblyman David Russo. In 2002, she became Russo's chief of staff.
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Wildstein was the Port Authority's director of interstate capital projects before he resigned last month amid growing proof he had a hand in the traffic jam. He's also the governor's friend from high school and was once the mayor of their hometown, Livingston, N.J.
Christie last year appointed Wildstein and dozens of others politically loyal to Christie to Port Authority positions. Wildstein, according to the Bergen County Record, didn't have a defined responsibility, but was instead meant to be the governor's watchman within the organization. On Thursday, he sat down before a New Jersey legislative panel and refused to answer a single question about the traffic jam. They asked him where he used to work, and he pleaded the fifth. The committee voted unanimously to hold him in contempt.
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The governor of New Jersey had repeatedly denied that his staff caused the Fort Lee traffic jam, but has since changed his tune to one of disappointment in them. He says he was misled, and that Wednesday was the first time he learned of the email exchanges that led to the scandal.
Christie has been discussed as the likely frontrunner for the Republican nomination for president in 2016, and has enjoyed strong bipartisan support in an age where such a thing is almost unheard.
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Before resigning Jan. 3, Baroni was the deputy director at the Port Authority, a Christie appointee and the governor's top man within the organization. Baroni would have likely had the final say on whether to carry out the lane closures. He held his position for four years, during which he oversaw the completion of the 9/11 Memorial in Manhattan and reportedly enacted the largest bridge toll increases in the organization's history. He also presided over the hiring of 50 people with ties to the governor.
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Sokolich is the democratic mayor of Fort Lee, the borough where roads were turned into parking lots for the four days when two lanes of the George Washington Bridge were closed. He opposed Christie's reelection campaign, which it now seems clear was the cause of the traffic jam. Sokolich, a lifelong Fort Lee resident, has been outspoken in his criticism of Christie and Port Authority officials for causing the debacle, saying Wildstein deserves "an ass kicking."
The mayor has been in office since 2008, and his term lasts through 2015. He is a managing partner of his own law firm and the founder of the Fort Lee Flag Football Association.
Although journalists have questioned Christie for months about the George Washington Bridge lane closures, the controversy came to a head on Tuesday when a slew of emails surfaced, implicating the governor's top aides. The emails are in full below. We have highlighted and annotated sections of note.

As the Republican Party's only likely shot at the presidency in 2016, Christie has, until now, maintained an image as a straight-shooter, someone looking only to get the job done. Although he has not been directly linked to the traffic jam, he appointed everyone who was, and many have questioned the judgment of an elected official who is so closely associated with people who planned an act of political retribution.
Although the governor was not associated with the events, he said Thursday they reflect poorly on him, and he must take responsibility.
"Ultimately I am responsible for what happens under my watch," he said.
Wildstein and Baroni, the two Port Authority officials, have resigned, but it's unclear if anyone else involved will do so. Christie has also fired Kelly. The United States attorney for New Jersey has opened a criminal investigation into the lane closure. Additionally, state Democrats have said they will subpoena everyone mentioned in the now-public email exchanges to see if anyone else was involved.
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Image: Jeff Zelevansky/Getty Images