Bottom of the screen. In a moment, dawn zimmer the one leveling the payback allegations, talked to federal investigators about it over the weekend. And now the background from dana bash. Its an ultimatum of epic political proportions. Chris christies Lieutenant Governor says it holy and false. Being a sandy victim myself makes the mayors allegations particularly offensive to me. Dawn zimmer described a scene right out of a movie saying that Lieutenant Governor kim guadagno approached her and threatened to withhold money unless the governor backed a project in her town. She said she was with him on friday night and this is was a message to the governor. This is a more direct tie to christie in bridgegate. Mayor zimmers version of our conversation in may of 2013 is not only false, but is i logical and does not withstand scrutiny when all of the facts are examined. Reporter a spokesman said its clear that partisan politics are at play here and try to it be faces on television. Hobokens mayor had publicly supported her governor in the past. But provided private journal entries to cnn which told a different story. She wrote at the time, i thought he was something different. This week i found he is cut from the same corrupt cloth i have been fighting for the last four years. Sources who attended this weekend say that christie argued the way he handled scandals so far should make them more confident. He said if i ever put myself up for National Office you and everyone have an absolute right to know how i deal with problems. Lightning will strike. But he announce head is putting any 2016 race for president on hold for a year. Anna navarro attended several events. Talking to these billionaires, people that christie will need he runs for president what is your sense of how they feel . Chris christie has taken the initiative. I think this buys some time for other potential candidates who may be deciding what they do and not be at risk of losing donors and act activists. Mayor zimmer sat down for me for an exclusive interview. You sent a letter to governor christie that you provided us. Were showing it on the screen, asking for funding for pumps to help the flooding problem in hoboken. You said to the governor, just as shore towns are not being asked for development in exchange for protecting them from future storms, the solution to hobokens flooding challenges can not be dependent on future development. As shore towns are not being asked for development in exchange for protecting them from future storms, the solution to hobokens flooding challenges can not be dependent on future development. This is sent before your meeting with the Lieutenant Governor. Does this mean you felt pressure already . In various meetings i had with their administration i did feel there was a lot of discuss about development. But i will say there in those meetings there was not a direct connection made but there was pressure. And so, you know, i do think that while i think whats interesting is about what the Lieutenant Governor said today is that she said its illogical what i said. And when you look at the documents, you look at the letters that ive written you can see it wasnt illogical at all. It is a progression leading up to something where they wanted to give me a direct message because they felt i wasnt getting the message clear enough. People close to the Lieutenant Governor, i mean, as you said, the Lieutenant Governor calls the allegations false. But i want to read what someone said. Kim remembers in their conversation that she was talking about redevelopment and making investments in hoboken. She remembers zimmer pressing kim for money for sandy and kim remembers saying you cant tie the two together and zimmer continuing to press and showing her map of the city and pressing for sandy. She says it was you linking sandy and development. Are you saying this letter which is dated before that conversation disproves that . Right. Well thats the first time im hearing that. I didnt she didnt say that directly today. But yeah, i mean, this letter makes it clear that i was the one, you know, on april 23rd sent them a letter and clearly said you cant connect the two and its not fair to connect the. Two thats part of the conversation that we had. I said you know after she said to me, you have to move ahead with the rockefeller project. I said is any other town being asked to do development in exchange for help with the flooding . And her answer was the shore brings them 38 billion. She was the one she very clearly was connecting the development with the sandy aid in our conversation. And its ironic she is saying that when now i sent a letter on april 23rd saying these two things should not be connected. You are saying that in your conversation you pointblank said to her is any other town asked to Link Development to sandy aid . You made that linkage clear that is your interpretation and she did not dispute it . She did not. She said i know its not fair, they shouldnt be connect bud they are. That is in the journal entry. You are saying that the Lieutenant Governor said these should not be connected but they are. Thats what i recall and what i wrote at the time. I wrote the journal entry a few days after the meeting with her. We are seeing a letter you provided us on may 8th to the governor saying you are stunned you are not getting the funding request. Thats two days before the meeting with the Lieutenant Governor. What is that second letter. What do you believe it proves . Back to her statement it is all illogical and when you look at all of the events together you can see it was a progression of pressure and she was, you know, sent in to make that final message to me. On may 8th there was a Planning Board decision. The Planning Board voted down the zoning that the Rockefeller Group wanted for their property. And on may 8th we had severe flooding and the letter i sent to the governor showed pictures of the severe flooding we had in hoboken. And on may 8th i sent a letter saying that we need the funding and that, you know, basically, i had received my office had received notice we would not be receiving funding and i wrote saying i hope this is not the final decision. We need help. Two days later, their office calls friday afternoon and says we want to do a sandy business event on monday at 10 00 in the morning. The timing seemed a bit strange but we were fine with it. We want to welcome the Lieutenant Governor. She is coming to hoboken. We had already done the opening for shop rite, at least a month before. So certainly wanted to welcome her. You believe her coming down was in specifically in response to this letter of may 8th . I do believe it was related. I think that she, you know, that event was created that she could come and have the opportunity to make a very clear message to me. When she said it to you . What was your immediate initial response and your what was going through your mind . I couldnt believe it. I couldnt believe that she was saying what she was saying and she very clearly said these things shouldnt be connected but they are. I know theyre not right and if you tell anyone i will deny it. She said that . Yes this is not something that you forget when the Lieutenant Governor tells you if you tell anyone i will deny it. My conversation with dawn zimmer. I want to bring in the panel. Dana bash, gloria borger, and John Wisniewski who is leading the investigation on the bridge investigation. Let me ask you first what do you make of what the mayor is saying there . Do you believe her . They are very troubling allegations. We have seen the Lieutenant Governor acknowledged she had a conversation with the mayor. But the mayors perception of the conversation is wrong and offensive. Thats where we need to get to the bottom of it. There is a dispute as to who said what. Someone is lying. The mayor is making serious allegations. They are very difficult in the light of the redevelopment, the Port Authority money used for a redevelopment study and the facts those are linked together with the redevelopment and the words that the Lieutenant Governor is said to have used linking it to the governor. There are a lot of facts we dont know. And it would be premature to rush to any conclusions. Obviously, you a supporter of governor christie. Do you believe that the Lieutenant Governor would say that . No. Simply put these are two former federal prosecutors. They prosecuted hundreds of corrupt politicians. These are the last two people who would get involved in any repugnant activity, conspiracies, conspiracies to do land deals. But if she did say that you would say this is inappropriate . I dont know about a hypothetical. I cant discuss what would happen if she said it. I dont believe she did. But heres a mayor who says this is corrupt activity. This mayor replaced a corrupt mayor. She knows the u. S. Attorneys can investigate this. She could have taken that to the u. S. Attorney, worn a wire, gone back. Instead she tweeted out months later he is a great governor. If you offered a bribe maybe i say nothing about you but i wouldnt put out compliments. That would be troublesome to a jury. But she says that she thinks governor christie has done good things. But if it was so upsetting and the person you thought was an idol and is now corrupt, if you put that in front of a jury im not sure they buy it. Do you ask questions about why she didnt come forward . There is a lot of questions. And one is the timing. This happened in may. And now in january 2014, a half a year later and now this allegation comes out. It could be what she is saying. But one of the questions out there is the time frame. Some people are going to say this is how politics is done. You see it on Television Shows all the time. Is this just politics as usual . I think in some ways, the idea of a quid pro quo is as old as the beginning of time. Its the way that politics goes. However when you get down to the specifics of this, not so much. I mean, you are talk about as you all know more than anybody a very devastating event in new jersey where the people of her city were under water. This is not this is not just rewarding a pet project, a bike path. This is something that is critically important to her waters. So the allegation is beyond pal ticks as usual. But is it allegation. If it were true and this occurred. Youre the lawyer wouldnt this be some form of extortion . You called it corrupt if true. This is what the mayor called it. She said she was disappointed that this governor was not corrupt. When you say someones corrupt, you are unlikely then to compliment that person. Its one thing to disagree with them. Youre a democrat in new jersey. From the outside in, it certainly looks like Chris Christie was so and still is incredibly popular. It is very difficult for a democrat to say anything bad about him. She said i think he was feared. When you are a mayor in new jersey, so much of what makes your town succeed or fail is the money you get from the state of new jersey. You you have to be careful about what you say. You get municipal aid and that can be changed and modified. Who are we worried about offending . The governor of the state . As the mayor . You worry about offending the administration. The governor. The commissioners, all of the people who have some influence on whether your town succeeds or fails. What about the fairness of your ask . Hoboken was 80 under water and i know there was billions of dollars in requests. I saw a press release that says over 70 million has been approved for hoboken. But that a lot has the been from insurance stuff. You are taking an allegation from a mayor and it seems to me it has got national attention. This governor has been so popular. Lets look at what Frank Pallone said. There is an investigation into these sandy commercials. It turned out this was just a routine audit. We have to be its rare that you have a situation where a mayor and the Lieutenant Governor, one is lying or deluded. And the fact it is so directly linked back to Chris Christie. We would not be sitting here talking about this but to have a mayor and make a specific allegation against the governor and Lieutenant Governor. Were its too early to look at whether the committee is going to investigate. We dont have all of the facts. We have a lot of work ahead of us before we can say the committee is going to were going to take a quick break. Next more of my conversation with dawn zimmer. And he says he is not a bully. But the question is what does the record show . Well take a closer look when this special edition of ac360 later returns. Welcome back. We are devoted an hour to Chris Christie, first the bridge scandal and now the allegations that the governor was withholding money for rebuilding hoboken, new jersey. When you see the Lieutenant Governor saying pointblank your memory and recollection of this conversation is offensive, is completely inaccurate and as a victim of sandy she is offended. You are saying shes lying . Yeah. Im she said she would deny it and she is denying it. And my reaction is youre offended . How do you think i feel and everyone in hoboken feels . We have not been given much sandy funding and have been told there is a connection between the two and there is a push to get one particular project through. You have tweeted positive things about governor christie. Why would you do that if you felt he is strong arming you . Believe me i have felt torn about this. I mean, he has done very good things for hoboken. I mean, i think hes he has done terrific things for the state overall and i do think he has been a great governor. But to not mention this sooner and now mention it given his obstacles this smacks of politics. Did you not mention it because you thought he did good things . Are you concerned . I didnt think people would believe me. And i didnt want they didnt make their final decisions on Hazard Mitigation funding until much later. I wanted to keep some chances out there to try to get the funding for hoboken. If i were to make the acquisitions i does it worry you now to make these accusations . Its a challenge. Lets face it. Im someone who got into politics because i care about my town. I was a stay at home mom before i got into politics. I did this because i cared about bringing a park to my neighborhood which is something we are about to make happen. So for me, im out here. I feel like i had to come tonight even though i would rather be home in bed. I need to get my voice out there. I really care about my town. Is it scary . Its hard because i mean, obviously theres powerful people, you know, across the country all giving their opinions on me. Has anyone pushed you to come forward and talk about this . The dnc . Other democrats . Ive been considered the the democrats are frustrated with me. How could i support the republican governor for four years. I dont have massive connections. I dont know who is head the dnc has not called you up . They have not called me at all. I have no connection to them. This pressure from the Lieutenant Governor on this conversation thats not a runtime thing. You are saying there is a pattern of this. I mean, that pressure was continuing until i came forward. I mean have you heard from the Governors Office directly now . I havent talked to them at all. This is a dumb question. I assume i know the answer. I assume you are not going to the inauguration tomorrow . I dont think im invited. Were back with the panel. Jeff, what do you think about this . Im underwhelmed by this accusation. He is the governor of the state. A big part of new jersey politics, as well as most states is state aid to municipalities. You give money to a municipality but you are the governor. You want to control how the money is going to be used. And suppose in the sandy situation he said, you know what . Were going to give you this sandy money but only if you do the following environmental things so we dont have this kind of disaster again. Thats different. But its a matter of degree and once you start getting into what precisely was said between these two people i suspect its going to get a lot more muddled. You are lawyers. Do you believe someone is lying . The stories arent the same. Lying or everybody using words like version, my recollection. There is clearly a mismatch. What we dont know is which set of facts is what happened. We lose the big picture though. We have a governor in new jersey who has made historic reforms and then there is a little bit of a a big problem at the bridge which John Wisniewski found out and every allegation is a national issue. Thats my concern. Once you take any allegation and blow it up into a case, i have a concern with that as opposed to do go ahead. Big picture on the eve of a second inaugural that happens tomorrow. Where he won by a landslide of Epic Proportions with huge democratic support and this is what were talking about where he is supposed to be having conversations about education reform and things to take on the national stage. He had to be tough to make those changes. He had to shake up a system. When they ran he said we are going to turn this state upside down and they did. And theres no question, you know, its a bruising sport in jersey. I can understand the reaction. He was ahead in the polls over hillary clinton. Its Risky Business to get that popular. I dont think has anything to do with that. Would he been a National Show if he wasnt so incredibly popular. Youre right. You are making the implication that dawn zimmer did that because Chris Christie was close to hillary in the polls. She is getting the attention because he is national figure. When she says