For the first time, a key Chris Christie ally dropped the hammer on him in the Bridgegate scandal and testified that the New Jersey governor knew about the lane closings and reveled in Mayor Mark Sokolich's frustration over the traffic jams they caused.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie was aware of and supported a plan to close lanes at the George Washington Bridge in 2013 in an act of political payback, a key prosecution witness testified Tuesday at the criminal trial of two former Christie associates.

David Wildstein, a former executive at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, told jurors in Newark federal court that he and Bill Baroni, another Port Authority executive, discussed the lane closure with Christie before a memorial service marking the 12th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks at the World Trade Center.

After this testimony, impeachment can't be far behind.

"Mr. Baroni said, 'Governor, I have to tell you, there's a tremendous amount of traffic in Fort Lee this morning,'" Wildstein testified, adding that Baroni was using a sarcastic tone.'

Baroni also said the mayor, Mark Sokolich, was "very frustrated" that his increasingly desperate calls to the Port Authority were being ignored."

Governor Christie responded by saying, 'I would imagine that he wouldn't be getting his phone calls returned,'" Wildstein said. Prosecutors showed jurors a series of photographs depicting the three men laughing at the site that morning.

It was never a feasible concept that Christie's minions would do something so extreme as to shut down traffic lanes on a bridge that frustrated thousands of motorists without his knowledge and blessing.

If you think traffic is bad in Los Angeles, you should go to New York sometime and try to cross over the Washington Bridge during rush hour. It's a nightmare, and Christie knew it.