Washington (CNN) - One prominent Republican who isn't concerned about the controversy over the George Washington Bridge scandal is Rudy Giuliani.
The former Republican presidential candidate and New York City mayor dismissed the forthcoming investigation into the flap as a "partisan witch hunt." Charges that the closing of lanes was politically motivated have enveloped New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie's administration - and potentially his presidential ambitions.
[twitter-follow screen_name='politicalticker'][twitter-follow screen_name='jhseher']
"There are no facts on the table that contradict Gov. Christie," Giuliani told David Gregory on NBC's "Meet the Press."
"Every fact seems to indicate that Gov. Christie is telling the truth," he added.
A series of e-mails and text messages disclosed earlier this month showed senior members of the governor's staff created a traffic jam in Fort Lee, New Jersey, apparently to retaliate against a Democratic mayor who refused to endorse Christie during his re-election campaign. Two top appointees at the Port Authority closed a pair of access lanes from the town to the bridge, causing days of gridlock. The scandal has already caused multiple resignations and prompted Christie to fire his deputy chief of staff, Bridget Anne Kelly.
In both a press conference and his state of the state address, Christie denied any knowledge of the scheme and told reporters staff members lied to him about their involvement in the gridlock.
Giuliani took direct aim Sunday at the lawmaker set to lead the investigation of the scandal, John Wisniewski, calling for the state assemblyman to step down as head of the inquest. The former mayor said Wisniewski has already contaminated the inquiry by announcing, up front, he does not believe Christie.
"He's no longer an impartial arbiter of the facts," Giuliani said. "He should not be handling this investigation."
Giuliani said he has no reason to doubt Christie, and any attack on the Governor is a partisan maneuver by Democrats fearful the New Jersey boss could win the White House in 2016.
"This is a very, very well orchestrated Democratic, kind of, organization effort to hurt Gov. Christie, who after all was the only Republican beating Hillary Clinton in any poll," Giuliani said.
Also appearing on "Meet the Press," Wisniewski swatted at any insinuation his investigation stems from political motivations.
"This is not preordained and we have no connection to Gov. Christie," Wisniewski said of the investigation.
Wisniewski said he found it hard to believe that the governor, in the middle of an election cycle, did not know it if members of his staff were busy plotting petty vengeance. But he said the legislative investigation remains focused on following the trail and finding out who else, if anyone, in his office knew about the plot. The Democratic assemblyman scoffed at any talk of impeachment as premature and reiterated that nothing currently connects the governor to the scandal.
"There's no connection that he knew or that he directed it," Wisniewski said.
Wisniewski, formerly the chair of the state's Democratic Party, pointed to the origins of the initial reports that the snarl in Fort Lee was more than just an unfortunate traffic jam as evidence the investigation is not partisan.
"This story, interestingly enough, didn't start with Democrats. It started with The Wall Street Journal, hardly a liberal paper," Wisniewski said.
State Democrats dismissed Giuliani's attack on Wisniewski as overblown rhetoric. In a statement, a spokesman for Assembly Democrats labeled Giuliani as an "uninformed critic" while citing Wisniewski's bipartisan dealings, which have earned him praise from his Republican colleagues.
"Rudy Giuliani quite simply has no idea what he's talking about,” spokesman Tom Hester Jr. said.
Giuliani, the one-time 2008 Republican primary favorite, also said that Christie's performance should embolden his colleagues to rally behind the executive. Giuliani presented Christie's actions as a benchmark for conduct in the wake of a scandal.
"He's given a textbook case in how to handle it, stand up, answer the questions, hold people accountable," Giuliani said.