Gibson Dunn Used ‘Opacity and Gamesmanship,’ Judge Says

By David Voreacos, Bloomberg News

A law firm commissioned by New Jersey Governor Chris Christie to investigate the George Washington Bridge scandal engaged in “opacity and gamesmanship” in producing its report, a federal judge said.

Gibson Dunn & Crutcher failed to retain notes, transcripts and recordings of 75 witness interviews underpinning a report that exonerated Christie, a Republican running for the White House, in politically motivated lane closures at the bridge in September 2013, the judge wrote.

“This was a clever tactic, but when public investigations are involved, straightforward lawyering is superior to calculated strategy,” U.S. District Judge Susan Wigenton ...