One of the leading 2016 presidential candidates, New Jersey Gov. CHRIS CHRISTIE, is NOT under criminal investigation over charges that he quashed indictments against political allies – charges that have been labelled “conspiratorial nonsense,” The National ENQUIRER has learned.
Uninformed reports this week suggested that the Republican governor and his staff could have broken the law over a small town personnel matter that occurred four years ago.
But the Garden State's top federal law enforcement official was swift to shut down the misleading reports, saying: "Any characterization that we are investigating the governor about this is just not true."
And a source told The ENQUIRER: “This is nothing more than a hatchet job from those on the other side of politics."
It is true, however, that the man who leveled those charges, Bennett Barlyn, was interviewed by two criminal investigators from the U.S. Department of Justice.
Barlyn was fired from the Hunterdon County prosecutor's office in August 2010 and is presently suing the Christie administration over similar allegations.
But as Matt Reilly, a spokesman for New Jersey U.S. Attorney Paul Fishman, said: "We talk to people all the time. It doesn't mean we're investigating anybody."
The governor’s office previously has dismissed Barlyn's wild accusations as being “conspiratorial nonsense” — and have argued Barlyn doesn't even have the right to sue under state law!
In court filings, Christie’s office has said that the decision to dismiss the indictment at the center of the scandal was within the discretion of New Jersey's top law-enforcement officials.
News of the latest Christie smear comes as a poll showed New Jersey's Republican voters preferred Christie over other possible GOP contenders.
In the Quinnipiac University poll, Christie lead the presidential primary fields, drawing 24 percent of the votes, followed by Romney with 18 percent (he later withdrew from the race), and former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush with 13 percent. No other candidate topped 6 percent.
