from sandy, relatively unscathed. particularly compared to other parts of the state. for a comparison, this was hoboken before and after sandy. according to the fair share housing center, residents and businesses inside all of hoboken received $4.76 million from that same pool of money total. that is less than one senior housing center in a politically coveted town. so was sandy money about helping victims of the storm or helping christie's political aspirations? >> i'll be happy to admit i was trying to run up the score. absolutely, and that's what you do in a political campaign. >> joining me now the reporter from the new jersey star ledger who has been covering the story. excellent piece of reporting. what do you have against this senior citizens of belleville, what's the problem? $6 million of state money, you get a senior housing center, what's the issue? >> actually, most people i talk to consider that a totally worthy project, and something belleville's been trying to get off the ground for at least five years.

sandy would come up no matter wh what.at there is a federal audit into a small portion of some of that spending. we could assume the sandy recovery would come under the microscope. but voters, you know, in new jersey, like the way he handled the storm. right off the bat. so there is weight in that. but sandy itself, the recovery, would come under the microscope. and there are still folks still reeling from that disaster in the state. i think that was going to be an issue no matter what. now the timing of congressman malone's announcement says to me that that is t is more -- >> snowballing. >> right. >> and that is it, you can keep pulling threads. thank you all. >>> that is it for a special 11:00 live edition of "all in." well see you back here in 21 hours at 8:00 eastern. good night. >>> good evening, happy monday. thanks to you at home for joining us. the largest city in the state of new jersey is newark, new jersey. until recently, of course, the mayor of newark, new jersey, was a man you might have heard of. cory booke

sandy affected every state on the eastern seaboard. it caused fatalities as far south as haiti and as far north as canada. sandy sent a storm surge flooding through new york city, the biggest city in the nation, and essentially turned the lights off in new york for a very long time. but when it comes to new jersey, it was something different. sandy just punched the state of new jersey right in the face. and from the very beginning, it was clear that densely populated little hoboken, new jersey, one of the most densely populated cities in the nation, 50,000 people living in basically one square mile, all right up on the mighty tidal flow of the hudson river that swelled and surged and overflowed in that storm, from the very beginning, it was clear that the little city of hoboken, new jersey, was in trouble. >> reporter: 20,000 people trapped, hoboken became a virtual island, as 500 million gallons of water overwhelmed this square mile town. by wednesday morning, the national guard showed up in force, rescuing the elderly trapped inside

in connection with the sandy funds. that's what that whole dance was that chris christie did with president obama, which is what projected him into the front ranks of the presidential race as a prospect. there was that video that amounted to a campaign video that was paid for with sandy funds that featured the governor. >> stronger than the storm. >> and then, of course, we have the allegations with dawn zimmer, it remains to be seen what's going on here. this whole thing has been politicized from the beginning, and it goes back to your point about forgetting the people that were in need. >> you mentioned the fact that christie's reaction to the storm afterwards, particularly appearing with the president is what catapulted him. basically what you see, if we put up there, you see the huge bump that happens, that's sandy. you see the huge decline that happens, that's the bridge scandal. what's happened, you've had this guy, the storm hit, he became this nationally popular figure, someone who was reaching across the aisle,

because you're messing with sandy money.endous effect both physically on the coast and other areas on other inlying areas but also on the psyche of the state. there is an allegation that the governor was messing around with that money, it is almost more damaging. there is no smoking gun. there is no e-mail from christie saying, you give us this development or we are taking away your sandy money. where as with the bridge scandal, there was a snoeking gu smoking gun. if this turns out to be true, it is almost worse. messing with sandy money is beyond the corruption new jerseyans are accustomed to. >> larry and matt, thanks for being with me. i appreciate it. we're back in a minute. yeah... try new alka seltzer fruit chews. they work fast on heartburn and taste awesome. these are good. told ya! i'm feeling better already. [ male announcer ] new alka seltzer fruits chews. enjoy the relief! [ male announcer ] new alka seltzer fruits chews. [ female announcer ] no matter the occasion..., your home's the place everyone gathers. so

we've gotten no sandy funding. we're at risk of getting no more sandy funding. we got 300,000.ong and try to get the plan -- not that that would necessarily be possible and ethically i couldn't do it but say i did, that would mean i'm giving a windfall to one property owner that the governor want me to do that. then you know who's going to be on line? it's going to be the city of hoboken. it's going to be dawn zumer who is going to be on the line. we'll be completely exposed. we'll be in a court case immediately, immediately. and i will have to testify. am i going to stand on the stand and lie? i can't. i know what's going on here. i know that i received a direct message. i know that the christie administration is connecting the sandy funds to this rockefeller project. >> why? have they given you any indication why rockefeller matters so much to them in. >> to be honest i still don't understand. i just know that there's been pressure all along. don't quite understand why he would do this. but i know -- what i do know is that the lieutenant governor she came you don't forget whe

the sandy recovery. in august of last year, he skipped a joint legislative hearing where homeowners testified about their struggles post-sandy. in september, he failed to appear at a bipartisan hearing on sandy recovery money. the next month he skipped another hearing where sandy victims testified. he skipped another in october. just last week, after the mayor of hoboken alleged the christie administration was tieing sandy money to a private development deal, ferzan assured reporters on a conference call that sandy money was being allocated objectively. >> i'm scratching my head a little bit about, you know, any community that's getting the short end of the stick. >> but ferzan isn't the only christie official who's seemingly not interested in legislative oversight. in february of last year, christie's treasurer also skipped a sandy oversight hearing he was asked to attend. when both the new jersey house and senate passed a bill unanimously that would have required more transparency on how sandy money is

we don't trade approval of developments for sandy aid. that's wrong. i work very hard to get this money for sandy relief and i'm in union beach and we're here today trying to rebuild homes that haven't been rebuilt and a lot of people haven't gotten money to rebuild their home. this notion that somehow you're going to link sandy aid to development or to tv ads or whatever, it's just not right and that's not the way it is and it's not the way it should be. and, you know, if nothing else comes out of this, it prevents future politicians from making those kinds of links, if they occurred. >> if they occurred. a statement was made and i'll put it up on the screen "it's very clear politics are at play here as democratic mayors with a political ax to grind come out of the woodwork and try to get their faces on television." democrats are piling on against this republican governor of new jersey, was recently re-elected with a significant majority. >> we have these may nonpartisan elections. she doesn't run as a democrat. she runs in a nonpartisan election and,

she says it was you linking sandy and development. are you saying this letter which is dated before that conversation disproves that? >> right. well that's the first time i'm hearing that. i didn't -- she didn't say that directly today. but yeah, i mean, this letter makes it clear that i was the one, you know, on april 23rd sent them a letter and clearly said you can't connect the two and it's not fair to connect the. two that's part of the conversation that we had. i said you know -- after she said to me, you have to move ahead with the rockefeller project. i said is any other town being asked to do development in exchange for help with the flooding? and her answer was the shore brings them $38 billion. she was the one -- she very clearly was connecting the development with the sandy aid in our conversation. and it's ironic she is saying that when now i sent a letter on april 23rd saying these two things should not be connected. >> you are saying that in your conversation you point-blank said to her is any other town asked to link de

attorney investigating how sandy funds were used. zimmer wrote at the time of christie, "i thought he was something very different. this week, i found that he's cut from the same corrupt cloth that i have been fighting for the last four years." being something different is christie's political calling card, what drew hundreds of the country's wealthiest political donors to florida this past weekend. sources who attended say christie argued the way he's handled scandals so far should make them more confident in him, not less. >> he said to those donors, if i ever put myself up for national office, you and everyone have an absolute right to know how i deal with problems, lightning will strike. >> but he also announced he's putting any potential thoughts of a race for president on hold for a year. republican strategist ann a navarro attended several of the events. talking to the millionaires, support christie will need if he runs for president, what's your sense of how they feel about this? >> i think chris christie has taken the initia

i mean the major question is, did they connect sandy funding, hoboken sandy funding to the rockefellerct. the fact is that is what they did. i'm coming forward, i'm sharing my story directly. i'm here talking to you. i'm sharing my journal. i'm offering to testify under oath. what are they doing? they're hiding behind spokes people and in fact the lieutenant governor was reached directly by "the bergen record" and she declined to comment. i believe if and when she is asked to testify under oath, the truth will come out because i believe she will be truthful and she will tell the truth. >> okay. anything that connects directly to chris christie on this? i mean i understand that he had a relationship with -- you're talking to his lieutenant governor, that you're talking to others in his administration that he has a relationship with this rockefeller group. but, is there -- did he ever say anything to you? did you ever not get funds? i know you didn't get everything you wanted, but i manl that's true of most cities in new jersey. >> well, i think we really got shortchanged on the funding.

>> i think, look, that's a real question, was he the face of sandy relief or was he the face of sandy relief because of the ads that they ran? there's no doubt that new jersey needed to invest in at thing the public that we were open for business. tourism and our beaches are a $40 billion a year industry for us. it's the backbone of our economy. it's a treasure that's critically important. that money needed to be spent on advertisements to tell the world that new jersey is a vacation and destination place. was it necessary to spend the money to promote the governor? is that why it was done? i assume the investigation will do that, will determine who did the ad, how much was the ad, what was the impact of the ad? did it result in tourism coming to the state? was there a better offer, better promotional piece that would have done something different without the governor's involvement but that would have had an even greater impact on tourism? at the end of the day, we needed to tell people that new jersey was open for business. we were on the road to recovery. we were ready to welcome th

and she remembers pressure for aid for sandy. she's saying it was you linking sandy and development are you saying this letter which is dated before this conversation disproves that? >> that's the first time i'm hearing that. i didn't realize that she -- she didn't actually say that directly today, but i mean this letter makes it clear that i was the one on april 23rd, sent them a letter, and very clearly said, you can't connect the two, and it's not fair to connect the two. and that was part of the conversation that we had. i said, you know, are you saying after she said to me, you know, that you have to move ahead with the rockefeller project, i said, is any other town being asked to do development in exchange for help with the flooding? and her answer was, well, the shore brings in $38 billion. so she was the one connecting -- she very clearly was connecting the development with the sandy aid in our conversation. and i made it clear -- it's ironic she's saying that. when i sent a letter on april 23rd saying these two things ar

people can understand what happened in sandy.ple can understand because they've seen so many movies and so many lifetime series about this. >> people watching this watch "house of cards," isn't this how politics is done, you scratch my back, i'll scratch yours? >> but these are threats. these are threats that are actually not legal. if you're lbj and say i want your vote on a civil rights bill and you don't give it to me, i'm not going to give you that bridge that you want in your state or district, that's kind of understan of understandable. this is more -- >> it's allegedly more overt than you think might have and probably did happen back in lbj's time or in politics. very overt. >> isn't it deal making? isn't that what a supporter of christie who doesn't believe -- >> no. the allegations here are way beyond deal making. it's a threat. it is a threat. and it is a threat, again, not just of, if you want this project back in your state, you're going to support my initiative here. this is, we're not going to give the residents of

this is sandy recovery money.o -- it almost makes the bridge scandal seem tiny in comparison if the allegation is true. >> if the allegation is true. but the big change, as you've been saying, is this has now become a federal investigation, a much broader potential investigation, along with the investigation that's going on in the new jersey legislature over the bridge issue. so, i mean, governor christie is now embroiled in a long, long, long investigation. >> and, sarah, the decision this weekend to essentially, you know, after ten days of relatively quiet, not responding, not trying to basically start a political fight, now they've decided, okay, democrats are going for blood, and we're going to fight, and play partisan politics. and the more they can -- look, tactic. it's a tactic. >> they want to muddy the waters. >> explain what they're doing. >> the governor has a lot of objectives to achieve the next year. he's got a state to run. he's got the rja to run. he's in florida, raising money for the rga, and dem

because you want the sandy money, if you're her.ng up to chris christie a year ago, before all of this, standing up to a guy with a 75% approval rating who is going to win your town while running for re-election. realistically speaking, a tough situation to be in. >> we should make a point, she has gotten some money for hoboken. it's a relative pittance. when we talk about this redevelopment project, it's a 19-block area of which three blocks were given approval. the other 16 still -- >> so there is -- the other piece here is, right, this is the north end of hoboken, it's called. and a 19-block area. so what happened was to get this all moving was when she became mayor, she inherited a city council-proochltd -- the city council approved a measure calling for a redevelopment study, the first phase. >> which the city would have to pay for. >> right. so she said we don't have the money to pay for the study. that study is the necessary first step for this group, the rockefeller group, to be able to build there. so the state stepped in.

money and sacred about sandy funds. if you had a situation where the allegation was general local aid was being held up, that would be troubling and disturbing, but i think this crossing a certain threshold in the public's mind, because the possibility that sandy funds themselves are involved. in terms of the project, i think that's something -- there is a case that could be made. the administration has not come out and made its case, maybe it will. we asked her on the air, why was the administration so interested, and she asked this in her journals. why was the governor so interested in this development project? the connection that's drawn through these documents, the chairman of the port authority, his law firm represents the developer, all of this stuff. the argument the kris tchristie administration could make, the unemployment rate is high -- >> on policy grounds, this is a policy decision, had nothing to do with david sampson or enriching some private developer. on policy grounds, we want to see development, we wa

i mean, the bottom line is, it's not fair for the governor to hold sandy funds hostage for the city of hoboken because he wants me to give back to one private developer. >> nbc's national investigative correspondent michael isikoff has been covering this story. michael, you listened to the statement by the lieutenant governor. give us your take on what was said and what maybe wasn't said. >> well, yeah, good point, chris. she denied that there was any threat to withhold sandy funds over this project, but just to be parse carefully, worth pointing out, she acknowledges there was a conversation that she had with mayor zimmer in may of last year. she didn't address whether she pressed the mayor to support this rockefeller group project that the mayor described in detail on saturday, so whether or not that was a subject of the conversation is an open question. she also didn't take questions. she made it clear, she said, that it's false that any sandy funds were withheld in exchange for not supporting this project or there was any connection, so it's worth looking very carefully at what she

get behind this project or your sandy funds are in jeopardy. her sandy funds were really jeopardized. she believes there were. but again, after these kinds of disasters, nobody gets enough money. >> many felt pressure to support chris christie. chris christie people were looking for things they could talk about for 2016. >> and also just the headlines themselves, it almost, in some ways you can say none of them are true, but just the daily headlines taken away from other things he might be doing, raising money for republicans, et cetera. >> there's no question, we can talk about is it fair, is the media paying attention at this point? christie's staff believes they are. it's hurting him and it's -- and it's making republicans, donors, party leaders who are looking for their candidate in 2016 a lit more reticent. by the way. >> hillary clinton, i want to move to her. you all had a cover, can anyone stop hillary? i bring you benghazi, this week, we kind of find what we already knew, they didn't pay attention to these safety concerns, particularly

zimmer sounded uncertain two weeks ago as to whether sandy funds were when would as political payback. >> with 20/20 hindsight, you can always look back and say, was it retribution? probably all mayors are reflecting right now and thinking about it. but, you know, i really hope that that's not the case. >> reporter: in interviews this weekend, zimmer says she didn't mention the sandy threat before because she feared nobody would believe her and she was still in the process of deciding to come forward. christie's camp called her claims categorically false. hoboken got $70 million for sandy recovery on par with other communities, and the $100 million zimmer requested was for future flood control, not sandy relief, and the amount was over one-third of all state resources for a city that is only two square miles. state lawmakers investigating the george washington traffic jam say they are empowered to investigate these new charges as well as any allegation of an abuse of government power. and that could allow new jersey democrats to go after christie for some time to come. lester? >> mich

sacred about sandy funds. if you had a situation here where the allegation was general local aid, so if you had a -- the aid was being held up that would be troubling. but i think this cause of the pressure because of the possibility sandy funds, in terms of the prospect, something that, there is a case to be made. the add min installation not come out and made the case. maybe it will. you ask, we asked the mayor why was the administration, why the governor, so much in this development project? the connection that this, and the documents, sampson, the port authority, hillah firm represents all this. the developer. the argument of the christie administration could be, look, i'm here for new jersey, we do commercial -- >> this is a policy priority and nothing to do with sampson. nothing to do with enriching a private development. a policy ground, wanted development, need construction, need the jobs. >> right, but where it's tricky, start going down that road, all hypotheticalal. we haven't actually heard kim, ba

, and also being a sandy victim myself, makes the mayor's allegations particularly offensive to me. this suggestion that anyone would hold back sandy relief funds for any reason is wholly and completely false. i thought i had a good relationship with the mayor of hoboken. and in fact, just three months after this conversation she said we had occurred, i was walking on the streets with her in hoboken, talking to her about urban markets. >> the crisis for the governor is escalating now. hoboken's mayor met for several hours with the u.s. attorney and turned over her journal and other documents to the feds. she also promised to testify under oath about what she told msnbc's steve kornacki on saturday, that the lieutenant governor said unless she approved a particular real estate deal, her city would not receive state controlled money for sandy relief. >> lieutenant governor came to hoboken, she pulled me aside in the parking lot and said, i know it's not right and know these things should not be connected and they are, if you tell anyone, i'll deny it. so these -- the bottom line is it

it benefits the sandy victims. it benefits small businesses. putting those ads out there benefited everyone. also, state and local officials reviewed all of this, approved it and this was done very openly. it was a television commercial after all. so unless more facts come to light, i'm not seeing this one as potentially bringing christie down. >> lisa bloom, danny cevallos, stand by, >>> other things, including a plane that was bound for branson, missouri, didn't get there. it ended up landing at the wrong airport entirely. while it is kind of funny to say that, that could have been an absolute disaster. we'll tell you why and how this happened. >>> the wrong airport had a pretty short runway. the technology of these massive planes. when you and i can get anywhere on a gps, what on earth went wrong. >>> the big story, major league baseball player, alex rodriguez, fighting mad and fighting a decision that keeps him out of the game for an entire season. a former clinic director said he personally did the injections for a-rod with banned substanc

if you say that in the context of discussing sandy funds shall hurricane sandy funds, you don't even have to be talking about the funds. you just have to be visiting hoboken on a sandy-related issue. you know the message is sent. if i could give a second quick example, if you were to look at the president of the united states, look at u.s. ambassadors. you think any of those have contributed heavily to the president. if the president or his adviser said, i'm going to make you ambassador to mexico if you give me a big political contribution, that's a crime. if you give a big political contribution and you become the ambassador. >> no crime there. it is all very settle in politics, how the horse trading occurs. we don't usually see criminal prosecutions resulting from this. we would be leading all the politicians away in handcuffs. wolf talked about the evidence. they have something in new jersey called official misconduct. >> yes, they do. i have looked at that stalt yut. >> do it quickly. >> i will tell you, that statute requires you to seek some sort of a personal, political, inappr

senator, what grade would you give senator christie on sandy recovery?well, obviously it's not a passing grade right now, because there's too many people that are struggling to get their lives back in order. everyone looked at this storm as an unbelievable devastation that hit the state, and we knew it would take time, but a year and a half in, you have 8,000 people on a waiting list. they don't know if they're number one or number 8,000. this is not right, nor is it fair. >> you've introduced or pledged to introduce legislation that would be a sandy bill of rights essentially. what would be in there and why are you doing it? >> basically it's about transparency. knowing where you are on the waiting list. if you got rejected, why? ensuring that the communications are in multiple languages. and we're doing it for one reason. there's too many people waiting too long to get answers. again, a year and a half. we knew this wasn't going to be quick, but now, year and a half later, people can't seem to get answers. now you have another requirement that just cam

sandy was and is one of those things. >> we still don't know what he knew. we don't know what he did. >> this is a marathon. this could go on for three to six to nine months. >> new jersey politics is rough and tumble. that's not going to change. but abusing power should not be condoned. >> my pledge to you tonight is i will govern with the spirit of sandy. >>> as new jersey governor chris christie courts gop donors in florida, the dust is still settling after new allegations from hoboken mayor dawn zimmer, suggesting members of the christie administration told her that sandy aide for her storm-ravaged city was contingent on her approval of a development project favored by the governor. the governor's office and others allegedly involved deny the mayor's claims. but if they're true, it's hard to overstate what a blow it would be for chris christie, who has built a national reputation on his response to sandy and his ability to work with democrats. the governor's brash style was on full display in press conferences around

and so these -- i mean, the bottom line is, it's not fair for the governor to hold sandy funds hostage for the city of hoboken because he wants me to give back to one private developer. >> on the other side, the governor's office denies any federal money was held from hoboken saying in a statement, "governor christie and his entire administration have been helping hoboken get the help they need after sandy, with the city already having been approved for nearly $70 million in federal aid." >> this is not somebody who had an adversarial relationship with the christie administration. on most fronts, dawn zimmer was aligned with and a governing partner with the christie administration, so it's a complex relationship, where it's not like she was sitting there for four years enemies with this guy and waiting for this moment to come forward. >> and fellow republicans defending christie against the allegations leveled against him and guadagno accusing zimmer of playing party politics for the sake of 2016. >> clearly, this is a very, very well orchestrated democratic kind of organizational effo

that he was the guy that helped the state survive this superstorm sandy. and two, the person that is linked in this scandal is not the deputy chief of staff, is not the campaign manager. it's the lieutenant governor. if there's one thing i remember having grown up with my dad as governor, the relationship between the governor and lieutenant governor, they do pretty much everything together. they're very much in sync with their message and what they're trying to get done with the state. so we don't know how this is going to end up. what i do know is this is not a murky situation. somebody is lying here. and if this end up being true, what the mayor is alleging, i don't see how chris christie survives this one. i don't see how he can walk this way out of this one, especially when you don't haconservatives rallying behind him. i would love to get your take on this as well. >> first off, i'm incredibly proud of steve kornacki. he did an incredible job on the story. his team as well. and there's certain moments sometimes in the news cycle when you're just glad

this ad used $4.7 million out of $25 million in super storm sandy relief funds. federal money to promote tourism at the jersey shore, a campaign to show jersey was back. a new federal investigation will now look deeper to determine if christie running for reelection, spent the federal sandy funds improperly to increase the tourism ads. >> taxpayer dollars that could have been used for sandy relief were used for ads promote k the governor, because he was in them, during an election campaign. >> last year, the ads raised eyebrows immediately, even from some fellow republicans on capitol hill. >> i think oh yeah, come to new jersey, but it's like, i don't want to pay for ads for someone's advertising out of sandy relief fund. it gives the whole thing a black eye. >> the investigation will take several months to rule on wrong doing. >> the governor's office says the white house approved that plan. and that the ads were quote, developed with the goal of effectively communicating that the jersey shore was open for business during the first summer after sandy. meanwhile

>> say yes to a development project in her town and she gets the sandy money. >> being a sandy victim myself making the mayor's allegations particularly offensive. >> the u.s. attorney has launched an investigation. >> this means the investigation is going broader than the bridge traffic. >> this story has taken a very dangerous turn for the governor. >> these developments have been moving fast and furious. >> is he going to survive the next year as the governor of new jersey? >> it is now a political war. >>> operation road hog aka bridgegate could be the least of chris christie's problems. chr the traffic problems in ft. lee look like one small piece in the political puzzle of retribution. in her personal journal, zimmer said she writes about the day new jersey's lieutenant governor told he would deny her funds for relief unless she supported something for chris christie. this morning lieutenant governor whole heartedly denied the story of quid pro quo. >> mayor zimmer's version of our consideration in may of 2013 is not only false, but it is illogical and does not withstand scrutin

the major question is did they connect sandy funding, hoboken sandy funding to the rockefeller projectm coming forward sharing my story. i'm sharing my journal, offering to testify under oath. what are they doing? hiding behind spokespeople. the mayor reached directly by the bergen journal and she wouldn't comment. i believe if she is asked to testify under oath will truth will come out. you have the christie administration to use their authority to try and get something. i don't know what they were trying to do in bridgegate but i do know hoboken. they were holding our sandy funds to push through the rockefeller project. >> the governor is in florida on a fundraising trip. sa tori, have these problems, new allegations followed the governor there? >> the governor has been here fundraising. what the president is talking about now in this private community another event tonight. this is a different event. a donner outreach. basically governor chris christie will be meeting with donors who will potentially support him in the future. this is where they have questions. except for "drive" by

i mean, i worked very hard to get this money for sandy relief. and i'm in union beach, and we're here today working to try to rebuild homes that still haven't been rebuilt and a lot of people haven't gotten their checks to rebuild their home or raze their home. so this notion that somehow, you know, you're going to link sandy aid to development or to tv ads or whatever, is just not right. and that's not the way it is, and that's not the way it should be. and, you know, if nothing else comes out of this, it prevents future politicians from making those kinds of links, if they occur. >> if they occurred. a spokesman for the governor, colin reid, put out a statement saying -- i'll put it up on the screen. it's very clear partisan politics are at play here as democratic mayors with a political axe to grind come out of the woodwork and dry to get their faces on television. i want you to react to that situation. democrats simply piling on against this republican governor of new jersey, recently re-elected in a significant -- with a significant majority

we're stronger than a storm. >> reporter: this ad after super storm sandy cost $2 million more than ads without governor christie. now federal auditors are looking into whether it was designed to boost tourism or christie's re-election campaign. >> it was at the expense of money from the taxpayers that could have been used for other sandy purposes. >> reporter: this as the bridge traffic scandal widens. state lawmakers are creating a super committee to investigate whether the governor's office created this four day traffic jam as political payback for a democrat who did not support christie. >> it was apparently a very massive abuse of power. and an attempt to conceal an abuse of power. >> reporter: subpoenas are expected as soon as thursday for former campaign manager bill steppian and bridget anne kelly, deputy chief of staff christie fired. their e-mails are linked to the bridge backup, but there has been no direct link to governor christie. supporters suggest it's a witch hunt. >> of course backlash will be substantial. >> reporter: a new monday mouth university press poll taken aft

administration is spending today, fighting allegation s frm the mayor of hoboken, new jersey, that sandy relief funds may have been tied to support of a private development project in the city. she responded to the claims made by mayor dawn zimmer this morning with a flat out denial. >> mayor zimmer's version of our conversation in may of 2013 is not only false. but is illogical and does not withstand scrutiny when all of the facts are examined. any suggestion, any suggestion that sandy funds were tied to the approval of any project in new jersey is completely false. >> zimmer then responded to those remarks in a statement saying, quote, i am genuinely disappointed that the lieutenant governor has lived up to her promise that she would deny linking hoboken's application for sandy hazard mitigation funding with expediting a private development project. the latest back and forth comes after mayor zimmer's appearance on msnbc's up with steve kornacki. >> the lieutenant governor came to hoboken. she pulled me aside in the parking lot, and she said i know it's not right, i know this thing sho

sandy, you're getting to talk to her in about an hour. what do you want answered? >> well, i think the one question is why now, why didn't you wait, was anything illegal done here. there's just some unanswered questions about her side of the story. as you all said, the chris christie office, new jersey governor's office, is pushing back very hard. >> candy, i wonder, right now the consistencies between these two scandals -- the gw bridge, and this, if these claims are indeed true, no connection directly to governor christie. even at the end of the investigations and the assembly in new jersey and what could come out of this, the governor is vindicated. he had no involvement. looking ahead to 2016 is there more of the where there's smoke, there's fire concept, that he could be damaged even though he did nothing wrong? >> sure, history is filled with people who had accusations in the media that they were unable to get rid of even when found vindicated. now with google, for heaven's sakes, it pops up whenever. there are always going to be people, no matter what is fou

helping victims of hurricane sandy.ion held up funding for her city, for sandy recovery because she didn't back this development project that was being represented by one of christie's top political advisers. now, what the pushback we're getting from the christie camp is, look, why didn't mayor zimmer say this before? she says, by her own account, that this threat she got from the lieutenant governor, from christie's lieutenant governor came last may. but in august, a few months later, she was tweeting how happy she was to have governor christie as her governor. she didn't come forward during the election campaign. actually, there was kind of a sideswipe today from barbara buono, christie's democratic opponent last year, saying why did she wait until she smelled blood in the water. that's a question that dawn zimmer is going to have to answer. but third, this is probably the most significant, what state lawmakers are saying, they're planning to look into this and the resolution that authorized that special legislative p

and that is advocating on behalf of the sandy relief victims. if the allegations are true, she said she'd take a lie detector test. this is very damaging, if true, for the lieutenant governor and the commissioner and chris christie. they are big allegations and a story that seems to have no end. >> hurricane sandy was a story. but tell us about the operation. why is it important for chris christie? >> there was a case where chris christie made a name tore himself not only in the state of nertiony but fighting against political destruction. he was a straight shooter. he was not going to take it from the left, right or center. he had four arrests or convictions in terms of a corruption scandal. a few years later he's on the receiving end. we have a federal prosecutor looking into an investigation and if the kim zimmer allegations are something he wants to expand into, we may see that. kim zimmer came to office because her predecessor was involved in the rig scandal. it's interesting that chris christie was on the receiving end. chris christie made

i want to talk about the sandy distribution of funds. first i want to get your reaction to the state of the state today. >> well, what was notably absent in this state of the state is his bluster we had from last year. last year he advise washington, d.c., that they should follow the lead of new jersey. >> take a look. >> chris christie. you know, in all fairness, he's in a tough spot. he did the best he could under a difficult circumstance. he tried to change the narrative, but the fact of the matter is new jersey is in crisis. the state of the state is -- we have a crisis of confidence in our governor. and he really needs to rebuild and heal that confidence with the people of new jersey and with the legislators as well. >> is the state of new jersey in crisis right now? >> we have serious problems. and what we saw a governor without -- he's lost his swagger. he's a kinder and gentler -- >> you know, the funny thing about this as i watched this is he is an incredibly adept political performer -- >> yes, he is. >> -- at performing sort o