First Read: “As for the investigation into the GWB lane closures, the level of Christie’s cooperation will be a big tell. If he and his administration are truly cooperative — turning over every email, appearing before every investigative panel — then it will appear they have nothing to hide, and it will be a reminder he really does want to rescue his national ambitions. But if they stonewall, then it may be that Christie and his folks have concluded they have bigger problems than 2016.”

Former New Jersey Gov. Richard Codey (D) said that some Democrats “tried to quash an investigation into the George Washington Bridge traffic scandal to protect Gov. Chris Christie (R),” the Newark Star Ledger reports.

Codey noted “that while the state Assembly was ramping up its investigation on the massive traffic jam — eventually finding that several people in Christie’s office were involved — there was ‘an intense campaign’ by some Democrats to stop it in its tracks.”

Said Codey: “People know that there was an effort by certain Democratic circles to have this thing not see the light of day.”

Michael Gerson: “Judged purely as a matter of politics, Christie has done well. Assuming his vehement denial of all involvement is accurate — the alternative is the end of his credibility and his career — Christie’s news conference was a model of crisis management. He accepted responsibility without admitting culpability. He apologized while maintaining he was a victim. I can’t recall a political figure who has done the scandal drill — mistakes were made, heads will roll — any better.”

“In the pre-primary primary, this is actually a qualification. Presidential candidates, who are often human beings, have been known to face draft-record controversies, bimbo eruptions, early DUI revelations, drug-use allegations, questions about discreditable pastoral associations and the like. The successful ones share Christie’s talent for crisis containment.”

“In a political high-wire act, Gov. Chris Christie will try on Tuesday to refocus attention from a controversy over a vindictive traffic jam to the day-to-day work of governing, by outlining plans to extend the school day, lower taxes for homeowners and reduce urban crime,” the New York Times reports.

“Christie’s State of the State address, with all its pomp and formality, offers him a welcome if awkwardly timed opportunity to present himself as a policy-purveying statesman, without having to answer questions. It will be a far cry from his last turn at the podium last week, when he appeared before voters as an angry, humiliated and, in his words, ‘heartbroken’ man who accepted responsibility for his staff’s role in closing traffic lanes to the George Washington Bridge.”

Washington Post: “The governor is expected to address the bridge scandal in Tuesday’s speech, but he is unlikely to linger on it. ”

The FBI doesn’t plan to file criminal charges over the Internal Revenue Service’s targeting of conservative groups, the Wall Street Journal reports, “a move that will likely only intensify debate over the politically charged scandal.”

“The officials said investigators didn’t find the kind of political bias or “enemy hunting” that would amount to a violation of criminal law. Instead, what emerged during the probe was evidence of a mismanaged bureaucracy enforcing rules about tax-exemption applications it didn’t understand, according to the law-enforcement officials.”