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(CNN) -- New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie said on Wednesday that he was misled by staff over the reasons for lane closures that caused heavy traffic around the George Washington Bridge and delayed emergency services that newly released e-mails suggest were orchestrated by his appointees as political punishment for a politician who did not back his reelection.

While Christie issued a statement saying he was outraged at the apparent conduct that tied up traffic for days around the nation's busiest bridge in September, Democrats fanned the flames of scandal around the popular Republican politician and possible 2016 presidential candidate.

Political commentators from both sides of the aisle recognized that the firestorm could hurt Christie nationally.

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The e-mails, seasoned with tough Jersey political talk and expletives, obtained by CNN and other news outlets were between top Christie appointees in his office and at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, which operates the iconic bridge spanning the Hudson River.

The exchanges began three weeks before access lanes to the bridge outside the town of Fort Lee were closed, causing heavy traffic backups between September 9-13. The mayor of Fort Lee, a Democrat, did not support Christie in his re-election campaign.

"Time for some traffic problems in Fort Lee," Bridget Anne Kelly, Christie's deputy chief of staff for legislative and intergovernmental affairs, said in an e-mail to David Wildstein, then the highest-level appointee representing the state at the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.

"Got it," Wildstein replied.

Christie said in a statement that "what I've seen today is unacceptable," adding that he was "misled by a member of his staff" and knew nothing about what had transpired. He previously said he knew nothing about allegations of political retribution.

His administration previously blamed the lane closures and traffic mess on a mishandled traffic study.

Democrats investigating

Those cited in the series of e-mails and text messages subpoenaed by Democratic legislators investigating the matter did not respond to requests for comment or to verify the communications.

Wildstein, who has left his job, is expected to appear at a legislative hearing on Thursday.

Read the e-mails

E-mails tie Christie aides to gridlock

Democrat: It's a sad day for New Jersey

What did Christie know about closed lanes?

Democrats allege the lane closures were to punish Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich for not endorsing Christie in his re-election effort.

Democratic New Jersey Assembly Deputy Speaker John Wisniewski said the e-mails call into question the integrity of the governor's office.

Christie, he said, "has a lot of explaining to do."

"I do not believe the governor called the Port Authority and said, 'Close some lanes.' But I did say I hold him responsible for the atmosphere. Now finding that that atmosphere existed in his own office is what I find really troubling," Wisniewski said.

Christie's name did not appear in the e-mails, he added.

Emergency services disrupted

Sokolich told CNN's "The Situation Room" on Wednesday that the e-mail disclosures following statements by the governor blaming the incident on a traffic study raised questions about the credibility of Christie's administration.

"That position becomes more difficult to understand. I'm rooting that the highest elected official in the state of New Jersey isn't involved. But I'm beginning to question my judgment," Sokolich said.

The mayor raised the issue of public safety being compromised. A letter by his emergency services coordinator, Paul Favia, on September 10 obtained by CNN cited "new traffic patterns" around the bridge's toll plaza that was backing up traffic in Fort Lee.

"This new traffic pattern is causing unnecessary delays for emergency services to arrive on scene for medical emergencies," Favia said, citing one case in which paramedics rushing to aid an unconscious elderly woman suffering a heart attack were held up and had to meet the ambulance transporting the victim at the hospital instead of at the scene. She later died.

Mistakes made

Christie acknowledged that mistakes were made but previously forcefully denied the lane closures were politically motivated.

He said at a news conference last month that he could only repeat what another appointee, Port Authority Deputy Executive Director Bill Baroni, had said publicly blaming the lane closures and resulting congestion on the transportation analysis.

"Which is, they believed the traffic study was necessary and that they ordered it, but the way they did it was mistaken and they didn't follow protocols," Christie said.

In his statement on Monday, Christie said he was outraged by conduct he called inappropriate, unsanctioned and carried out without his knowledge.

"This behavior is not representative of me or my administration in any way, and people will be held responsible for their actions," he said.

Baroni has left his post as did Wildstein, who will testify before a legislative committee investigating the matter on Thursday, Wisniewski said.

Mayoral appeals

In response to a phone message from Sokolich regarding an "urgent matter of public safety in Fort Lee" on the first day of the lane closures, Kelly asked Wildstein in an e-mail if the Mayor's call had been returned.

Wildstein wrote to Kelly: "Radio silence. His name comes right after mayor Fulop."

Jersey City Mayor Steven Fulop, a Democrat who also didn't endorse Christie, raised his own suspicions.

He claimed this week that his decision to not endorse the governor was met with news that New Jersey Cabinet and other high ranking officials were canceling meetings with him and that a pension reform bill he had worked on was scuttled by a Democrat who had backed Christie.

On the second morning of the closures, Sokolich apparently sent a text to Baroni: "Presently we have four very busy traffic lanes merging into only one toll booth. ... The bigger problem is getting kids to school. Help please. It's maddening."

Seeing that text, a person whose name has been redacted from the e-mails and text messages writes to Wildstein: "Is it wrong that I am smiling?"

"No," Wildstein responds.

"I feel badly about the kids," the unknown person writes.

"They are the children of Buono voters," responds Wildstein.

Barbara Buono was Christie's Democratic opponent in the election last November.

On September 13, Wildstein wrote to Kelly that New York authorities gave "Fort Lee back all three lanes this morning. We are appropriately going nuts. Samson helping us to retaliate."

David Samson chairs the Port Authority's Board of Commissioners and is a close Christie ally.

Sokolich reached out to Wildstein on September 17 seeking an explanation.

"We should talk. Someone needs to tell me that the recent traffic debacle was not punitive in nature. The last four reporters that contacted me suggest that the people they are speaking with absolutely believe it to be punishment. Try as I may to dispel these rumors I am having a tough time. A private face-to-face would be important to me. Perhaps someone can enlighten me as to the errors of my ways. Let me know if you'll give me 10 minutes. Regards, Mark," Sokolich wrote.

Other documents raise questions, too

Wildstein sent the texts to Baroni.

"Have not heard back from Bridget," Wildstein noted.

"F**k," Baroni wrote back.

On September 18, Wildstein e-mailed Bill Stepien, Christie's campaign manager, and forwarded him a story from the Wall Street Journal titled "Bridge Jam's Cause a Mystery."

"I have empty boxes ready to take to work today, just in case," Wildstein wrote, an apparent reference to being fired. "It will be a tough November for this little Serbian," an apparent reference to Mayor Sokolich.

On October 3, Baroni asks Wildstein what the "Trenton feedback" is. Trenton is the capital of New Jersey and where Christie's headquarters are.

"Good," Wildstein wrote.

"Just good?" Baroni wrote. "S**t."

"No I have only texted brudget (sic) and Nicole they were VERY happy," Wildstein responded. "Both said you are doing great. Charlie said you did GREAT."

Controversy tarnishes Christie's image -- opinion

Democrats swarm

Christie, who's now criss-crossing the country, campaigning for fellow GOP governors as chairman of the Republican Governors Association, is seen as prime political target for national Democrats, who rarely attacked Christie during his re-election campaign but are now becoming more aggressive with the bridge controversy unfolding.

"These revelations are troubling for any public official, but they also indicate what we've come to expect from Governor Christie - when people oppose him, he exacts retribution. When people question him, he belittles and snidely jokes. And when anyone dares to look into his administration, he bullies and attacks," said Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the Democratic National Committee chair, in a statement.

A source close to Christie said "there will probably be some sacrificial firing and that'll be it."

CNN's Paul Steinhauser, Alan Silverleib, Stephanie Kotuby, and Dana Davidsen contributed to this report.

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