Newark Star-Ledger | Gawker.com | Asbury Park Press
Just hours after Gawker and the New Jersey ACLU sued to see records of Gov. Chris Christie’s communications with Fox News chairman Roger Ailes, the governor’s office released what it called a “supplemental response” to the request. The new letter said the administration wasn’t backing down from its claim to executive privilege, but officially disclosed that a meeting with Ailes took place. Christie said he expects the lawsuit to be dismissed. “There are no other documents between me and Mr. Ailes at all,” he tells the Star-Ledger. “My understanding now from my staff is that they’ve been contacted and told the suit can be dropped.” Gawker’s John Cook says: “We have no earthly idea why Christie would go so far as to invoke executive privilege to keep one lousy schedule entry, concerning a dinner that had already been reported, secret.”
Frank Corrado, a Wildwood lawyer working with the ACLU, said his organization and Gawker would withdraw the lawsuit if the Christie administration would certify in court that the calendar entry was indeed the only document that would fit Gawker’s expansive records request.