A New Jersey state legislative committee set up by Democrats to investigate Governor Chris Christie in the Birdgegate scandal issued a report that tepidly exonerates the Republican.

The committee found "no conclusive evidence" that Christie was involved in the decision to close two lanes on the busy George Washington Bridge as a means to get back at a political opponent.

Daily Beast:

Team Christie has greeted the committee's news with somewhat predictable gloating.  

The Record's Shawn Boburg reported that Christie's attorney, Randy Mastro, welcomed the committee's findings late Thursday evening. "The committee has finally acknowledged what we reported nine months ago –– namely, that there is not a shred of evidence Governor Christie knew anything about the GWB lane realignment beforehand or that any current member of his staff was involved in that decision,” he said. “Thus, the committee's work has simply corroborated our comprehensive investigation. And with this inquiry behind it, the governor and his office can now focus on doing what they do best –– serving the public interest."

The nine-month-old report Mastro is referring to is the "internal investigation" he conducted for the Christie administration which found, to the surprise of approximately no one considering Mastro is Christie's attorney, that Christie did nothing wrong.

While the legislative committee's findings align with Mastro's in that they lay blame at the feet of Christie's former deputy chief of staff, Bridget Anne Kelly, and former Port Authority executive David Wildstein, they do not fully exonerate Christie. 

To the contrary, the report assigns responsibility for the actions of his staff and appointees to Christie, claiming they acted "with perceived impunity and in an environment, both in the [governor's office] and the Port Authority, in which they felt empowered to act as they did, with little regard for public safety risks or the steadily mounting public frustrations." 

The legislative committee's report also does not seem to attempt to assassinate the character of either Kelly or Wildstein, unlike Mastro's, which inexplicably and misogynistically went into great detail about the affair Kelly had been engaged in with Christie's former campaign manager, and basically accused Wildstein of being a mad man.

Gee...the Daily Beast writer Olivia Nuzzi sounds a little disappointed. Sometimes, even Democrats have a hard time manufacturing scandal.

The facf that there's no evidence Christie wasn't involved is irrelevant. Trying to prove a negative has no bearing on Christie's innocence. The idea that Christie should have to prove he didn't do anything wrong is more of a political talking point than anything.

Christie has far greater problems than getting this scandal behind him -- especially with conservative Republicans who aren't buying what he's selling. But Christie is still a respected voice among many establishment Republicans and if he runs, he will prove to be a formidable candidate.