Chris Christie is in a world of trouble

NBC4 is reporting Thursday that a judge has found probable cause to advance a criminal complaint against Christie over his involvement in the politically-motivated lane closures that blew up into a scandal in late 2013:

A judge has found probable cause for a complaint of official misconduct against Gov. Chris Christie related to the George Washington Bridge lane closures.

The case now goes to the Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office, which will decide whether to bring the issue to a grand jury for possible indictment.

Christie has maintained all along that he knew nothing of the lane closures as they happened. His spokesman, Brian Murray, is continuing to make that argument, and has also indicated that Christie’s legal team plans to appeal this ruling.

But former Port Authority official David Wildstein recently testified that he, Christie, and others joked and laughed about the closures while they were attending a 9/11 memorial at Ground Zero. And Bridget Anne Kelly, Christie’s former deputy chief of staff, has asserted that she and the Governor discussed the lane closings before they happened.

The Bergen County Prosecutor’s Office is headed by Gurbir S. Grewal, who was just nominated permanently to that post by Christie, and who may now need to recuse himself and appoint a special prosecutor.

(Alison R. Parker contributed to this article.)