While Chris Christie is busy blowing smoke on the campaign trail, lawyers for the Bridgegate defendants have been working overtime to force Christie to disgorge his emails in order for them to put on a defense.

WYNC:

In Tuesday's debate, Gov. Chris Christie argued that as a Republican from a blue state he's uniquely qualified to "prosecute the case against Hillary Clinton." But within hours of uttering those words, lawyers for the two Bridgegate defendants filed papers in federal court that could undermine his effort to make such a case.

Christie's legal team is inappropriately hiding thousands of documents related to the Bridgegate scandal, the two defense lawyers argued in briefs filed late Tuesday. Among the hidden documents, the lawyers say, are emails to and from the governor's personal and work email accounts and a calendar entry from the week when an order was delivered to close lanes at the George Washington Bridge in 2013.

All told, Christie's taxpayer-funded attorneys at the Gibson Dunn law firm have withheld or redacted 9,428 emails and other documents. The reasons given include "campaign strategy" and "press strategy."

At least 16 of those emails were sent from top Christie aides to former Port Authority appointee David Wildstein, who pleaded guilty in May to felony corruption charges for the politically-motivated lane closures, and Bill Baroni, the former top Port official who has pleaded not guilty in the case.

This week's court filings also show that there's at least one email between Christie and Wildstein from February 2009, when Christie was a private citizen running for governor and Wildstein was an anonymous political blogger known as "Wally Edge." It is unclear if Christie knew at the time that Wildstein was "Wally Edge." But in January 2014, when the country learned that the governor's deputy chief of staff had sent an email to Wildstein saying "time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee," Christie insisted that he had little contact with Wildstein, his high school classmate. "I completely lost touch with David," Christie said. The governor said he only resumed contact when Wildstein was hired in 2010 as the $150,000-a-year director of interstate capital projects, but Baroni's court papers allege Christie and Wildstein communicated through email "for a period of time."

Go read the entire article. For all the smoke they've blown about Hillary Clinton's emails, this story is far worse, and not because of a text message saying it was time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee, either.

Here's a sample:

*David Wildstein removed Bill Baroni's hard drive from the Port Authority offices and took it home with him after he was fired in December 2013, though he left his own family photos at his desk.

*Christie's former campaign manager, Stepien, passed along at least two emails to Christie from Wildstein, one concerning the meetings with Fulop, the other regarding the New Jersey Patrolmen's Benevolent Association's decision not to endorse Christie for re-election.

Bend over and kiss your butt goodbye, Christie. No one wants someone so obviously corrupt. They'd much rather have an insane religious zealot or an equally insane New York billionaire.