俄亥俄州哥伦布市——俄亥俄州共和党人乔恩·胡斯德(Jon Husted)试图在今年秋天保住他的美国参议院席位，但他无法摆脱6，000万美元贿赂丑闻的阴影，这一丑闻已扰乱该州政治超过五年。
胡斯德最近被传唤在两名前能源高管的相关刑事审判中作为辩方证人作证，在今年3月该案的审判无效后，他可能不得不再次作证。阿克伦的一名法官计划于9月28日开始重审，这意味着胡斯德可能会在11月选举提前投票开始前一周回到证人席上。
这位前副州长和俄亥俄州国务卿从未被指控或指责有任何不当行为。但丑闻中出现的大量公共记录引发了人们对Husted与该计划中被起诉或监禁的关键人物的交易的质疑，该计划围绕着立法批准为该州的两座核电站提供10亿美元的救助。
现在知道胡斯德与审判的关联是否会成为第一任期参议员的政治负债还为时过早，预计他将在秋天面对2024年从参议院被驱逐的民主党人谢罗德·布朗。
一个潜在的担忧迹象是，参议院共和党人主要的超级政治行动委员会——参议院领导基金，最近宣布计划为赫德拨款7900万美元。这大约是其在八场激烈竞争的参议院竞选中计划的国家支出的四分之一。
当被问及2022年他在被称为众议院法案6的救市立法中扮演了什么角色时，胡斯德回答说:“没有。”此后，他多次重申了这一立场，尽管此案披露的证据引发了人们对他的参与的质疑。
总部位于阿克伦的公用事业公司FirstEnergy的高管最近在审判中曝光的Husted日历显示，他与前首席执行官查克·琼斯、该州前最高公用事业监管机构(现已去世)以及当时的俄亥俄州众议院议长·拉里·霍尔德举行了多次额外的会议或电话。他们在联邦检察官制定的计划中形成了势力三角。胡斯德的日历是由《俄亥俄州首都日报》通过公共记录请求获得的，并已被美联社审阅。
琼斯和前第一能源游说者迈克尔·道林被指控在贿赂丑闻中扮演的角色，将于秋季重审。Householder在2023年因策划该计划而被判有罪，正在服20年徒刑，FirstEnergy已经同意承保该计划。
胡斯德日历上记录的互动是在救市法案制定和通过的前后。在各种案件中提出的证据显示，琼斯和道林讨论了胡斯德推动在立法中增加补贴的问题。
胡斯德一直否认他在立法中发挥了作用，也否认他对围绕该法案的犯罪活动有任何了解。
在一月份接受NBC4采访时，胡斯德说，“我的角色非常明确。我希望核电站继续运行。”他说，这是“为了让那些工厂继续运转，让数百万俄亥俄州人的灯继续亮着。”
2019年6月，琼斯向道林发送了他与Householder谈话的截图，表明Husted正在代表FirstEnergy将核电站补贴的期限从6年延长至10年。
琼斯敦促Householder为10年的补贴“努力谈判”,否则他将被迫在他的议长任期结束前再次讨论这个问题。“啊，那增加了6亿美元，”Householder写道，这是一笔以前没有报道过的额外金额。该法案要求俄亥俄州纳税人每年支付1 . 5亿美元的核能补贴。
“胡斯德两天前打电话给我，说是要拿到参议院的版本，”琼斯回答道。
“他不是立法者，”Householder这样回答当时还是副州长的Husted。
“我知道，但他说参议院领导人会听的，”琼斯回答。“他没有兑现。”
这些文本是在Householder的刑事审判中收集的证据的一部分。当Husted之前被问及交易时，他坚持认为交易并不能证明他是交易的一部分。
“我不知道你在说什么。在2024年的一次不相关的新闻发布会上，当被问及这些短信时，胡斯德说。“发给其他人的短信——发给其他人之间分享的短信——与我无关。我没有参与那次谈话。”
俄亥俄州的一名长期游说者告诉联邦代理人，第一能源和第一能源解决方案(FirstEnergy Solutions)是一家子公司，拥有接受救助的核电站，它们将黑钱输送给非营利组织，让胡斯德和共和党州长迈克·德温(Mike DeWine)受益。
根据As获得的司法部对他的采访记录
GOP plans big spending to keep Ohio Senate seat; bribery scandal adds challenge
COLUMBUS, Ohio --As he seeks to retain his U.S. Senate seat this fall, Ohio Republican Jon Husted has been unable to escape the shadow of a $60 million bribery scandal that has roiled state politics formore than five years.
Husted was recentlycalled to testifyas a defense witness in therelated criminal trialof two former energy executives, testimony he might have to reprise after ahung juryled to a mistrial in the case in March. A judge in Akron scheduled the retrial to begin Sept. 28, meaning Husted could be back on the witness stand a week before early voting begins for the November elections.
The former lieutenant governor and Ohio secretary of state has never been charged with or accused of any wrongdoing. But the vast public record that has emerged from the scandal has raised questions about Husted's dealings with key players who have been indicted or imprisoned in the scheme, which revolved around legislative approval of a$1 billion bailoutfor the state's two nuclear power plants.
It's too early to know whether Husted's association with the trial will be a political liability for the first-term senator, who in the fall isexpected to faceSherrod Brown, a Democratousted from the Senate in 2024.
In a potential sign of concern, Senate Republicans’ main super political action committee, the Senate Leadership Fund, recently announced plans to spend $79 million on Husted's behalf. That's roughly one-quarter of its planned national spending in eight tightly contested Senate races.
Asked in 2022 what role he played in the bailout legislation, known as House Bill 6, Husted answered, “None.” He has reiterated that stance many times since, even as evidence disclosed in the case has raised questions about his involvement.
Husted calendars that came to light during the recent trial involving executives for the utility, Akron-based FirstEnergy, showed a number of additional meetings or phone calls that he had with former CEO Chuck Jones, with the state's formertop utility regulator, who has since died, and with then-Ohio House Speaker Larry Householder. They formed the triangle of influence at the heart of scheme as laid out by federal prosecutors. Husted's calendars were obtained by the Ohio Capital Journal through a public records request and have been reviewed by The Associated Press.
Jones and former FirstEnergy lobbyist Michael Dowling were charged for their alleged roles in the bribery scandal and will be retried in the fall. Householder is serving a 20-year prison sentence after beingconvicted in 2023of orchestrating the scheme, which FirstEnergy hasadmittedto underwriting.
The interactions noted in Husted's calendars were around the timethe bailout billwas being developed and passed. Evidence presented in various cases showed Jones and Dowling discussing a push by Husted for additional subsidies in the legislation.
Husted has consistently denied that he played a role in creating the legislation as well as having any knowledge of criminal activity surrounding the bill.
In an NBC4 interview in January, Husted said, “My role was very clear. I wanted the nuclear power plants to remain operational.” He said it was “about keeping those plants open and keeping the lights on for millions of Ohioans.”
In June 2019, Jones texted Dowling screenshots of a conversation he had with Householder that suggested Husted was working on FirstEnergy’s behalf to extend the term of the nuclear plant subsidies from six years to 10 years.
Jones urged Householder to “negotiate hard” for 10 years of subsidies or he would be forced to revisit the issue again before his speakership ended. “Ugh, that adds $600M,” Householder wrote about an additional amount that has not been previously reported. The bill called for charging Ohio ratepayers $150 million a year in nuclear subsidies.
“Husted called me 2 nights ago and was supposed to get it in the Senate version,” Jones replied.
“He’s not a legislator,” Householder replied about Husted, who was by then the lieutenant governor.
“I know but he said Senate leaders would listen," Jones replied. "He didn’t deliver.”
The texts were part of evidence gathered in Householder's criminal trial. When Husted has been asked previously about the exchanges, he has been adamant that they do not prove he was part of the deal-making.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. We weren’t involved," Husted said when asked about the texts during an unrelated news conference in 2024. "Texts to other people — texts to other people shared amongst themselves — have nothing to do with me. And I wasn’t involved in that conversation.”
A longtime Ohio lobbyist told federal agents that FirstEnergy and FirstEnergy Solutions, the subsidiary that owned the nuclear power plants helped by the bailout, funneled dark money to nonprofits that benefited Husted and Gov. Mike DeWine, a Republican.
According to the notes from his Department of Justice interview obtained by The Associated Press and not previously reported, lobbyist Neil Clark identified one of the groups as Freedom Frontier. That was the very group that received a $1 million contribution in 2017 marked internally by FirstEnergyas “Husted campaign.”The donation was brought to light through documents filed in a lawsuit by FirstEnergy shareholders and obtained through a records request by cleveland.com. Husted was a candidate for governor at the time.
Dark moneyrefers to political contributions flowing to certain nonprofit organizations whose donors do not have to be publicly identified. Coordinating between those groups and candidate campaigns is generally prohibited by federal law.
Internal FirstEnergy communications from 2017 and 2018, which is evidence in a U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission investigation, include discussions involving Jones, Dowling and others about attending Husted events as far back as 2016. They also reflect Dowling's concerns about dark money contributions becoming public.
Jones and Dowling also discussed strategies to contribute under alternate names. In July 2018, for instance, as the two were planning a DeWine-Husted fundraiser in Naples, Florida, they discussed contributing under one name while covering event costs under another — so there would be “no cost billed to (the) campaign.”
Husted declined a request for further comment about the details that have emerged as the various cases surrounding the bribery scandal play out.
“Sen. Husted has commented extensively with the media and given testimony under oath and doesn’t have anything additional to add,” said Josh Eck, his spokesperson.
