NEWARK, N.J. — Andrew Cuomo and Chris Christie personally discussed how to handle the fallout from the George Washington Bridge lane closures, even agreeing to release a report covering up the incident, according to the admitted mastermind of the political revenge scheme.

Cuomo’s administration — referred to in testimony as “Albany” — told the top official at the bistate Port Authority to “lay off” Christie following the incident, former Port official David Wildstein testified here in U.S. District Court.

Wildstein said he was told of the conversations between the governors of New York and New Jersey by David Samson, the former chairman of the agency’s board, and Bill Baroni, its former deputy executive director and now a defendant in the case.

Port Authority Executive Director Patrick Foye, who was appointed by Cuomo and remains at the agency, had been investigating the September 2013 lane closures.

Cuomo, a Democrat, and Christie, a Republican, agreed that the agency would release a report washing over the incident, saying the lane closures were the result of a traffic study commissioned by officials on the New Jersey side of the agency and that there had been a “failure of communications,” Wildstein testified.

“My understanding was Governor Christie and Governor Cuomo has discussed this,” Wildstein told defense attorney Michael Critchley. “That if there was a report that was issued, that if New Jersey side accepted responsibility, that Mr. Foye would sign off on that.”

That was supposed to “put an end to this,” Wildstein said.

The report, which eventually became the basis for testimony Baroni delivered to a legislative committee in Trenton, was never released.

Wildstein said he believed the order was lifted after Christie won his reelection in November, and that he soon after received a call from a reporter asking about his own involvement in the lane closings.

Wildstein is testifying in the trial of Baroni and Bridget Anne Kelly, Christie’s former deputy chief of staff. They were indicted last May on charges of conspiracy, fraud and civil rights violations.

They are accused of closing local access lanes to the bridge — the world’s busiest — to punish the Democratic mayor of Fort Lee for not endorsing Christie in his re-election bid. The bridge is located in Fort Lee, and the lane closures caused days of gridlock in the Bergen County town and surrounding communities.

Christie, who is currently a top adviser to Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, has denied any knowledge or involvement in this incident. But Wildstein said last month that the governor was told of the traffic gridlock on the third day of the lane closings.

Wildstein, who was the Port’s director of interstate capital projects, has already pleaded guilty and implicated the two others.

The Wall Street Journal reported shortly after the scandal broke that the governors had spoken privately about the incident, citing “a person familiar with the matter.” The report said that Christie had called Cuomo to complain about Foye’s handling of the lane closures.

Christie and Cuomo’s offices did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

–additional reporting by Linh Tat and Dana Rubinstein

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