How mayor pleaded to end Bridgegate jams

In August 2013, David Wildstein, an appointee of New Jersey governor Chris Christie to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, sent one of many communications that are rebounding on Mr Christie's associates.

According to a criminal complaint made public on Friday, Mr Wildstein complained to Bridget Anne Kelly, a senior official in Mr Christie's office, about a rabbi who, he said, had "pissed me off".

The pair then joked about whether they could apply to the rabbi - whose name has not been released - the same tactics they had agreed to use on a mayor who had fallen foul of the Christie circle. Ms Kelly asked whether it would be possible to create "traffic problems" in front of the rabbi's house.

The exchange is one of many new details to have emerged in the complaint, published after Mr Wildstein pleaded guilty to criminal charges over officials' deliberate creation of traffic jams in Fort Lee, New Jersey, over four days in September 2013. After the guilty plea, Paul Fishman, chief federal prosecutor for New Jersey, announced nine charges each against Ms Kelly and Bill Baroni, formerly Mr Christie's most senior appointee at the Port Authority.

Ms Kelly and Mr Baroni face arraignment on Monday on nine charges relating to the same incidents.

The allegations against his associates have dogged Mr Christie as he tours the US trying to garner support for a presumed run for the Republican nomination for the presidency. He will visit New Hampshire, a key state in the primary election process, this week and is likely to be forced to repeat his denials that he had any knowledge of his allies' actions.

The new details in Friday's complaint - which portray a petty, vindictive atmosphere among Mr Christie's allies during the run-up to his re-election as governor in November 2013 - illustrate the challenges an anticipated string of charges over abuse of power could pose for his campaign.

The complaint alleges - with significant supporting material - that Mr Wildstein, Ms Kelly and Mr Baroni deliberately held off until the first week of the school year on the plan at the centre of the allegations to create traffic jams in Fort Lee. They wanted the jams - apparently intended to punish Mark Sokolich, Fort Lee's mayor, for supporting Barbara Buono, Mr Christie's Democratic rival for governor - to have maximum impact.

The complaint reproduces multiple messages from Mr Sokolich begging the port authority to end the traffic chaos because of its implications. Ambulances are struggling to move around the town effectively, he tells them, and school children are trapped in school buses unable to reach their classrooms. The three respond, according to the complaint, with a pre-arranged tactic of "radio silence".

The sheer unpleasantness of the tone of communications laid out in the complaint and likely to be rehearsed in any trial is likely to raise questions about Mr Christie's judgment in surrounding himself with those allegedly involved.

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"Flights to Tel Aviv all mysteriously delayed," Mr Wildstein replied to Ms Kelly's question about how the rabbi can be punished. The port authority owns the New York area's airports and much of the rest of the area's critical infrastructure.

"Perfect," replied Ms Kelly.

Ms Kelly insisted on Friday that the complaint gave an entirely misleading version of events. Mr Wildstein, she claimed, had lied to prosecutors in the hope of securing a lighter sentence. Mr Fishman told reporters that Mr Wildstein would probably receive a more lenient sentence because of his co-operation with prosecutors. He could, in theory, face a 15-year jail term for the charges he admitted, conspiring against civil rights and conspiring to misapply the resources of an organisation receiving federal government resources.

Mr Baroni is also expected to plead not guilty.

Mr Christie reiterated his insistence that the Bridgegate conspiracy was conducted entirely behind his back and infuriated him.

"I had no knowledge or involvement in the planning or execution of this act," the governor wrote on Twitter.

< > However, there remains a likelihood of further charges for associates of Mr Christie. In emails mentioned in Friday's complaint, Mr Wildstein and Ms Kelly discuss their stance towards Steven Fulop, mayor of Jersey City, another Democrat who had earned their wrath. There are references to their tactics of arranging meetings with such people with the intention of cancelling them to humiliate the other party.

United Airlines has also confirmed it has received subpoenas probing why it restarted in September 2012 a barely used flight from Newark Airport to Columbia, South Carolina, near the weekend home of David Samson, a Christie appointee then the port authority's chairman.

The damaging details in the complaint are also likely to stick more firmly in the public mind than the precise details of any eventual charges.

"I feel badly about the kids," Ms Kelly writes in one text message during the traffic congestion.

"They are the children of Buono voters," Mr Wildstein replies.

"Exactly!" Ms Kelly responds.

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