Washington Bridge whistleblower: “My claim was blocked to protect Gina Raimondo”

A letter sent to us from the Washington Bridge whistleblower alleges the following:

“I filed a whistleblower lawsuit on 5/6/2024 and attempted to show who was responsible for the failure of the Washington Bridge. Over a year of work went into this case and the evidence pointed at one company, Cardi Corp. I pulled close to ten thousand e-mails in public records requests. I talked to dozens of people who worked for the state and Cardi Corp. between the years of 2016 and 2022. 

Cardi Corp. started the Phase 1 Washington Bridge work using the AECOM traffic plan to close the Gano Street off-ramp and the Taunton Avenue on-ramp. At the same time, Governor Gina Raimondo placed her mother in care at Tockwotten in East Providence. During those years, Raimondo was living across the river on the Providence’s East Side. Her commute to see her mother took her over the Washington Bridge and the traffic was bad with the ramps closed. To spare herself the frustration, Gina forced RIDOT to reopen the ramps and causing even more traffic, to the point locals colloquially referred to as “GinaJam”.

A number of complaints were filed against Cardi Corp. on this job, some even from inside RIDOT. Governor Raimondo ended up pulling the plug on the job and in turn left the bridge in a volatile state. She caused the extra traffic, shut down a maintenance job that needed to be completed, and then left Rhode Island in the dust for greener pastures. 

I was immediately put under a gag order and did not learn until a year and a half later why. As U.S. Secretary of Commerce under the Biden Administration, Raimondo had just been given her $100 billion to invest. Any charges brought against her could have jeopardized those funds. I was gagged by the DOJ to prevent that. When Trump won she vowed to leave nothing in the coffers for him and dumped the last $50 billion on her way out. Peter Neronha and Dan McKee were made aware of my whistleblower suit and instead of bringing you the truth they helped cover for Gina.”

Washington Bridge whistleblower complaint.