'This Week' Transcript: Former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani

Rudy Giuliani is interviewed on 'This Week'

ByABC News
January 11, 2014, 11:16 AM
Representative Adam Kinzinger (R) Illinois, Democratic Strategist and ABC News Contributor Donna Brazile, ABC News Political Analyst and Special Correspondent Matthew Dowd, and Former Obama White House Senior Adviser and ABC News Contributor David Plouffe on 'This Week'
Representative Adam Kinzinger (R) Illinois, Democratic Strategist and ABC News Contributor Donna Brazile, ABC News Political Analyst and Special Correspondent Matthew Dowd, and Former Obama White House Senior Adviser and ABC News Contributor David Plouffe on 'This Week'
ABC News

— -- Below is a rush transcript for "This Week" on January 12, 2014. This will be updated and is not in its final form.

MARTHA RADDATZ, HOST: Welcome to "This Week."

Jersey jaw dropper.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRIS CHRISTIE, GOVERNOR OF NEW JERSEY: I am embarrassed and humiliated.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RADDATZ: Chris Christie's make or break moment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHRISTIE: A person close to me betrayed me. I am a very sad person today.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RADDATZ: This morning, brand new details on the investigations and the fallout, including...

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JUDY SMITH, CRISIS MANAGER: No comment.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

RADDATZ: "Scandal"'s real life inspiration, crisis manager Judy Smith, Rudy Giuliani and our powerhouse roundtable.

Plus, Olympics alert, breaking details on new security warnings. Are our athletes safe?

And pandemonium: Washington's newest star ready for her closeup.

All right here this Sunday morning.

ANNOUNCER: From ABC News, "This Week" with George Stephanopoulos starts now.

RADDATZ: Hello, again. I'm Martha Raddatz, great to have you with us.

Two days after New Jersey governor Chris Christie's marathon press conference, the bridgegate scandal is swirling this morning. New Jersey Democrats are pushing to expand their inquiry beyond just the federal investigation.

So, what happens now and how will it impact Christie's presidential prospects?

We're covering every angle. Let's get started with the latest developments from New Jersey. ABC's Jim Avila is there now -- Jim.

JIM AVILA, ABC NEWS CORRESPONDENT: Good morning, Martha. During that nearly two-hour news conference, Governor Christie answered just about every question, except the critical one, how could this happen, dangerously leaving that to his critics, the press and federal prosecutors.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

AVILA: This is not the bombastic Chris Christie America knew so well, meekly walking down the town hall steps of Fort Lee on a humiliating apology tour. But so far, and the investigations have just begun, nothing in the more than 2,000 pages of documents posted by his political enemies have found the lie in this blanket denial.

CHRISTIE: I had no knowledge or involvement in this issue, in its planning or its execution.

AVILA: What the documents do show is that his aids and appointees were monitoring the traffic disaster they had created with a smoking-gun e-mail, "time for some traffic problems in Ft. Lee."

By noon of the first day of traffic Armageddon, Christie allies had been warned of the increased volume and congestion, and that emergency services had been seriously hampered.

CHIEF KEITH BENDUL, FORT LEE POLICE CHIEF: People protecting the public actually impaired public safety.

AVILA: The new documents show Ft. Lee's pleas were ignored for four days, with Christie's press apparatus stone walling, and only when the New York side of bridge authority stepped in were lanes finally reopened.

Quote, "we are going to fix this fiasco." And, "I will get to the bottom of this abusive decision."

The governor now hoping the prompt dismissal of his Deputy Chief of Staff Bridget Anne Kelly and his long-time political guru Bill Stepien, can reverse the impression that the governor's brash style encouraged political vengeance.

CHRISTIE: I am who I am, but I am not a bully.

(END VIDEOTAPE)