New Jersey lawmakers are moving slower than they planned as they investigate the politically engineered traffic jams near the George Washington Bridge last year.

They say they’ll skip calling some witnesses largely so they don’t interfere with a federal criminal probe.

Assemblyman John Wisniewski, a co-chairman of a panel looking into what happened, says the committee’s lawyer has advised that about half of the 12 people on a list of possible witnesses should not be made to testify now.

Wisniewski says he still does not know why an aide to Gov. Chris Christie apparently called for lanes to be closed in Fort Lee for political retribution.

The panel has a hearing scheduled for Thursday with Christie aide Regina Egea.

It has canceled three other meetings that were scheduled for July.

(AP)