Request to delay release of names in bridge case is denied

NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — A federal judge on Friday denied a request by an unidentified person prosecutors believe was involved in the 2013 George Washington Bridge lane-closing scandal to further delay the release of names of unindicted co-conspirators in the plot.

U.S. District Judge Susan Wigenton had ordered the government to release the list of names by noon Friday in response to a motion filed in January by The Associated Press and other media organizations.

"If John Doe did not join the conspiracy to block access to the George Washington Bridge as an act of political retribution, publishing a Government letter saying that he did is a supreme injustice," she wrote.

Bridget Kelly, Christie's then-deputy chief of staff, and Bill Baroni, a top Christie appointee to the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, face federal wire fraud and civil rights charges and are scheduled for trial this fall.