0 erin burnett "out front" starts right now. erin burnett "out front" starts -- captions by vitac -- www.vitac.com >> announcer: next, bridge over troubled water. chris christie under fire today accused of plotting political revenge. >> i find it hard to believe that this administration wasn't directly involved. >> is it the end of his presidential dreams? plus, dennis rodman's strange trip gets even stranger. ♪ happy birthday to you ♪ happy birthday to you and a call for help ends with a deadly police shooting. the stepbrother of the teenage victim talks to cnn. >> they had the situation completely under control. >> but the third officer? >> the third officer is 100% in the wrong. >> let's go out front. good evening, everyone, i'm don lemon in for erin. a controversy involving governor chris christie is intensifying. cnn has just obtained a letter that shows what started as a local political fight had real life or death consequences. we are learning that the traffic jam on the george washington bridge in november which may have within intentionally created by chris christie's staff as political pay back delayed paramedics responding to a woman suffering from a heart attack. that's the accusation tonight from a city official in new jerse jersey. joe jones has the letter. >> it's a new headache from the chris christie administration. a letter from the emergency medical services administrator in fort lee, new jersey, he ticks off four times when they were delayed responding to calls apparently due to the change in traffic patterns in the fort lee area. we're talking about a vehicle accident with injuries involving four patients, a woman in cardiac arrest who was pronounced at a local hospital and a couple cases of people experiencing chest pains. the letter was dated september 10th of last year. this shows why the evidence of intentionally created delays on the george washington bridge are so serious for the governor's office. >> reporter: first, there was snarled traffic on the george washington bridge and now newly exposed e-mail traffic from members of governor chris christie's inner circle raise questions over whether the gridlock was intentional and politically motivated pay back. the closest thing from a smoking gun is time for traffic problems in fort lee. the reason was a traffic study. problem is, the town that felt most of the pain was fort lee, new jersey, whose democratic mayor had endors endorsed chris opponent. >> they felt they needed to subject retribution. >> i was the guy working the koengs. you are not serious with that question. >> reporter: that was in december. today the governor releasing a statement calling the e-mails unacceptable and saying he's outraged that he was misled by a member of his staff and that the completely inappropriate and unsanctioned conduct was made without his knowledge. >> may not be the end of it. the other headache for governor christie. the e-mails seem to suggest that more than one staffer may have had knowledge of what was going on. the governor promised accountability for those responsible, don. >> thank you, joe. joining me now is chair woman of the democratic national committee, congresswoman debbie wasserman schultz. thank you for coming in. >> thank you, don. good to be here. >> democrats are quick to react today. the dnc sent out two e-mails bashing christie. he put out a response saying the behavior is irresponsible. do you have evidence that he knew what was going on? >> i think the investigation that is ongoing is going to -- through the questioning, particularly tomorrow when the assembly asks the right people under oath questions about exactly what happened and who and where these instructions came from to shut down three lanes of highway on the george washington bridge that not just -- not only snarled traffic but actually slowed down first responders from looking for a 4-year-old. there are so many questions that need to be answered that chris christie has refused to answer thus far and today those e-mails revealed that there is smoke and that smoke leads right to the closest staff that he has in his office. if he's such a straight shooter, which he prides himself on, don, why did it take seven hours for him to release a statement for him saying he was outraged and had no knowledge of it. i can tell you if i knew nothing about something and had no knowledge, i would immediately release a statement. that doesn't take a lot of hand wringing. >> you're not buying that he didn't know it and blaming it on the top it's. you're not buying that, correct? >> like i said, his statement and actions thus far have proven that he's not a straight shooter that he has claimed to be and the questions require answers. he needs to step up and face the music and answer those questions. >> congresswoman, here's what the republicans are saying. they say president obama is facing questions. each time the president claims he department know. he didn't know about the nsa spying on allies, he didn't know that if you keep your doctor -- so what's the difference between christie not knowing and the governor not knowing. >> the difference is president obama said he didn't know about policy issues. this is a scandal that leads to his office in which his staff and possibly him exacted political retribution in retaliation for a democratic mayor in fort lee refusing to endorse him in his re-election. as a result they ordered the shut down of three lanes of the george washington bridge on the first day of school, snarling traffic, traffic children in school buses -- >> couldn't all the scandals, including the president, he believes these are made up scandals. couldn't they be all made up scandals? >> i don't know how you could compare a governor and his staff shutting down three lanes of highway in retaliation. these e-mails that came out "today" show that it was in responds to a mayor refusing to ep doors their boss for an election. how could you compare that to health care policy, intelligence policy and foreign policy? none of those three things were scandals. they're not comeparable. he said he had nothing to do with this and knew nothing about it and that it didn't have anything do with anyone in his office. >> turns out none that have is true. >> to get the -- republicans are saying, listen, this is all politically motivated, even possibly by the dnc and beyond. clinton beaks all opponents. if we were looking forward to 2014, it shows that christie does that from 42%. do they have a point? >> chris christie is the governor of new jersey and the head of the national governor's association. he said his soul responsibility right now is to re-elect and elect governors. the culture allowed his senior staff to think that it was okay to exact political retribution that impacted his constituents, shut down three lanes of highway on the bridge and he denied having -- his office having anything to do with it. there are more questions than answers. chris christie needs to be forthcoming. he needs to step up and answer the questions and he needs to do that immediately. >> congresswoman, thank you very much. joining me now, cnn chief national correspondent, john king. john, can you unspin the spin for us here? is this as big a deal as the democrats might want to believe? >> they certainly hope it is. number one, he's starting his new term as new jersey's governor. he needs to get things done. just like this, in the state of new jersey this can set you back on your heels. you had the chairman of the dnc. what did she say? yes, and he's the only republican who even runs slightly ahead of hillary clinton. they want to make republicans afraid of chris christie this year, don. the success of republicans in those governor's races will help or hurt. they're trying to take him down. how the governor handles this in the next 72 hours or so, including the next 24 hours is critical, both to his second term as governor and to his national ambitions. >> he's going to need someone unscandal to undo this. we were hard press the to find a republican today who would defend chris christie. what do you make of that? >> a number of republicans, the office holders are walking away saying, call the governor's office, that's his business, not my business. you look at rush limbaugh, the part of the republican party that doesn't like chris christie or they're suspicious, they're saying he sounds like richard nixon. he sounds vindictive. we think he's too dangerous, he's a bully. that's a tough image. that's not a presidential temperament. that's been his challenge from day one because of the infamous youtube videos. the gov another was laughing at the people. go away, that's not a serious question. tonight, don, these are serious questions. the governor has to step back and his staff and the biggest thing he has to worry about tonight, as he said, i was misled. as he says that, we have to assume he knows there is no way, no document that's going to trace this to him. >> serious questions that demand serious answers. john king, appreciate it. >> thank you. still to come, the white house fights back. how the obama administration is responding to the harsh criticism from robert gates. plus, dennis rodman wishes the north korean president a very happy birthday. one person who defends the basketball diplomacy next. and more changes at "saturday night live." >> announcer: erin burnett "out front" brought to you by ink from chase. learn more at chase.com/ink. y we changing app from ink. we didn't get into business to spend time managing receipts, that's why we have ink. we like being in business because we like being creative, we like interacting with people. so you have time to focus on the things you love. ink from chase. so you can. open to innovation. open to ambition. open to bold ideas. that's why new york has a new plan -- dozens of tax free zones all across the state. move here, expand here, or start a new business here and pay no taxes for ten years... we're new york. if there's something that creates more jobs, and grows more businesses... we're open to it. start a tax-free business at startup-ny.com.