his political appointees at the Port Authority was Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich, a Democrat, for not supporting Christie, a Republican, in his 2013 gubernatorial re-election campaign. Investigators are also examining other possible motives, such as whether the closures were intended to affect a major real estate development project, which was a top priority for Sokolich, that was underway at the Fort Lee bridge access point. Investigations were initiated by the New Jersey Assembly Transportation Committee, the New Jersey Legislative Select Committee, the Port Authority, United States Attorney for the District of New Jersey, the United States Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, special legislative investigative committees, and the Governor's office itself. On September 18, 2014, WNBC reported that unnamed federal sources said the US Attorney investigation had found no evidence that Christie had prior knowledge of or directed the closures. An interim report by NJ legislative committee the investigating the closures was released in December 2014. The committee had been unable to determine if Christie had advance knowledge since it was asked by the US Attorney to postpone interviewing certain key witnesses. On December 5, 2014, WNBC reported that sources close to the federal investigation said that indictments of up to six people could be expected in January 2015 for an "apparent conspiracy to cover up what they refer to as a politically motivated plot". Hurricane Sandy NJ Transit equipment damage investigation Hurricane Sandy, which made landfall on October 29, 2012, caused a 13-foot tidal surge that inundated many coastal areas including the Jersey Shore, the Hudson Waterfront, and the Meadowlands. New Jersey Transit Rail Operations (NJT) suffered $120 million in damage for 261 train cars and 62 locomotives left at rail yards at Hoboken Terminal and the Meadows Maintenance Complex in the Kearny Meadows. The executive director of NJT, James Weinstein, defended the decision to leave trains in rail yards that ended up under water saying those locations had no history of flooding, and that no one could have predicted the extent of the storm surges. "We stored it where it should be. Unfortunately, it's the worst storm we've ever had in New Jersey." In December, Weinstein conceded that information to the contrary had been available to the agency, but that he had not studied a report which indicated the potential danger. Weinstein said: "That study concluded that we had as much as 20 years to adapt