"During those precious few minutes, they bragged about the fact that there were traffic problems in Fort Lee and that Mayor Sokolich was not getting his calls returned," Assistant US Attorney Vikas Khanna told jurors in federal court in Newark, New Jersey.
Christie has denied he knew anything of the traffic plot until weeks after it happened.
Spokesman Jeremy Rosen declined to comment today, citing the Governor's earlier statements that he didn't know about the lane closings at the time. Wildstein's lawyer had previously said "evidence exists" that Christie knew about the lane closings when they occurred.
While Christie's political opponents have investigated the closings, and he commissioned a probe that cleared him of wrongdoing, this marked the first time a prosecutor publicly endorsed Wildstein's view that Christie knew of the plot as it was happening.
Kelly, Christie's former deputy chief of staff, and Baroni, the former deputy executive director at the Port Authority of New York & New Jersey, have pleaded not guilty and promise a defence that will shed light on the inner workings of Christie's Administration.
In their opening statements, lawyers for Baroni and Kelly derided Wildstein, 54, as a serial liar, a lifelong manipulator and a political operative who was Christie's enforcer to help him in his quest for the White House. They said Wildstein will lie to the jury about Kelly and Baroni to try to please prosecutors and avoid prison when he's sentenced.
"David Wildstein is a vicious guy" who was Christie's "fixer," Michael Baldassare, Baroni's lawyer, told the jury. "He's a bully," Baldassare said before resorting to profanities to describe him.
As recently as yesterday, Christie said he didn't know anything about the lane closures until later and would be willing to testify at the trial if called to do so.
"I would have no problem if called to testify by either side," Christie, now a top campaign adviser to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, said on CNN. "But the fact is that I won't because I really don't have any knowledge of this incident at all."
- Bloomberg