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By Tom Curry, National Affairs Writer, NBC News

The mayor whose town was apparently punished by New Jersey Gov. Chris Christies aides during last years campaign said Sunday I take him at his word that Christie had no prior knowledge of lane closings leading to the George Washington Bridge.

Fort Lee Mayor Mark Sokolich visits Meet the Press to share details of his meeting with Gov. Chris Christie regarding 'Bridgegate.'

The lane closings in Fort Lee, N.J., were an apparent effort to retaliate against Mayor Mark Sokolich, a Democrat, who had not endorsed Christie in the campaign. Sokolich met with Christie on Thursday to accept Christies apology for the incident, which created massive traffic jams in Fort Lee.

Sokolich said on NBCs Meet the Press Sunday that Christie was candid during their meeting, but added theres just a lot of stuff out there, a reference to unanswered questions about the bridge episode and other allegations that Christie is heavy-handed in his governing style.

If he didnt know, he certainly should have known that his aides had ordered the lane closings, Sokolich said. Ive always understood that the governor ran a very, very tight ship. He was in control of a lot of things and he would review everything, and he made sure that anything that his name was even remotely involved in, he was involved in.

A potential contender for the 2016 Republican presidential nomination, Christie faces the prospect of being entangled for months in investigations of the bridge episode by both the Democratic-controlled state legislature and by United States Attorney Paul Fishman in New Jersey.

On ABC's This Week, a prominent Republican, former New York City mayor Rudy Giuliani, said that Christie had handled it the best way you can possibly handle it. He's held a press conference. He's flatly denied it. If for some reason it's not true, the man has put his political career completely at risk.

He added, If it turns out that there's some evidence that he knew about it, he's taken the complete risk that his political career is over. I don't think he'd do that if there's any suggestion he knew about this.

Former Pennsylvania Sen. Rick Santorum, a contender for the Republican presidential nomination in 2012, said the e-mails revealed so far from Christie appointees had made it very clear that the personnel there were not sensitive to what seemed to be a fairly obvious wrong thing to do.

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Democratic mayor in bridge scandal says he takes Christie at his word